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CNN Live At Daybreak

Pentagon Believes Taliban May Poison Afghans, Blame U.S.

Aired October 25, 2001 - 05:19   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: As America strikes back, the humanitarian side of this campaign could be used against the United States. The Pentagon now believes that the Taliban may actually try to poison U.S. food drops into Afghanistan.

With more on that story, let's go to our Jeff Levine, who is joining us early this morning from the Pentagon -- Jeff, good morning.

JEFF LEVINE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Well, in the last couple of days, food has surfaced as a major new weapon in the Afghan war and both sides are hoping to use this tool to win a kind of propaganda victory.

The latest accusation is that the U.S. has used the humanitarian relief effort to poison the Afghan people. Now, the Pentagon is heatedly denying that charge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. JOHN STUFFLEBEEM, JOINT STAFF DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS: We are confident in the information that we have that they may intend to poison one or more types of food sources and blame it on the Americans. We are releasing this information preemptively so that they will know if the food comes from Americans, it will not be tainted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVINE: Now, the U.S. is actually warning the Afghan people not to eat food provided by the Taliban, nor to consume food coming from Taliban sources, for example, Taliban controlled Red Cross warehouses.

In general, the Pentagon is saying that the Taliban is using denial and deceptive techniques in a variety of different ways. For example, there was an instance a few days ago where the Taliban organized a trip for journalists into Afghanistan, ostensibly to see what was going on. But the real purpose behind it, says the Pentagon, was to expose the reporters to a U.S. air strike, thereby creating an international incident.

Another situation that comes up is that military equipment is being stored near precious sites, near religious sites. For example, as this picture shows, a helicopter is being parked near a mosque. The idea apparently is to draw fire to the mosque. Now, what happened in this case, says the Pentagon, is that the helicopter was destroyed but the mosque was saved.

Now, overall it's very, very difficult, of course, to assess these charges, to say what is what and what is right and what is wrong. However, both sides will continue to make these accusations. They're both very, very anxious to win the battle for public opinion -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Jeff Levine at the Pentagon.

Jeff, thank you.

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