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CNN Live At Daybreak

U.S. Reiterates Main Goal of Military Campaign to Eviscerate Al Qaeda from Afghanistan

Aired October 30, 2001 - 05:15   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: Checking the latest developments, U.S. jets hit targets around the southern Afghan city of Kandahar this morning. The predawn attack lasted more than three hours. Taliban forces responded with anti-aircraft fire.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan met Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf today. Lakhdar Brahimi is in Pakistan to discuss a post-Taliban Afghanistan. The U.N. considering a proposal for talks by the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan now.

KAGAN: And investigators in the September 11 attacks are looking closely at three male immigrants who shared an apartment in New Jersey. They were carrying box cutters and multiple passports when they were taken into custody the day after the attacks.

And to get the latest now, we want to go to Allessio Vinci in Tashkent, Uzbekistan with news that has just wrapped up. General Tommy Franks, running the day to day U.S. military option in the area -- Alessio.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello, Daryn.

Yes, General Tommy Franks just ended a press conference here in Tashkent within the last few minutes. General Franks basically reiterating that the main goal of the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan is to eviscerate the al Qaeda group from Afghanistan. However, when we asked him how long that operation would be ongoing, he said it will take as long as it will take.

We asked him whether that operation, in order to be successful, in order to eviscerate and remove all the terrorists and all those who support al Qaeda from Afghanistan, the U.S. would have to deploy more ground troops in a more stable way in Afghanistan, Mr. General Franks said that he was not ruling anything out, meaning that perhaps in the future ground troops would be eventually be deployed in Afghanistan in order to achieve that goal of getting rid of the terrorists inside Afghanistan.

He refused to accept that the military campaign inside Afghanistan against Afghanistan is at a stalemate. He said that the military operation is going at their own time line. And he also insisted that the Northern Alliance was in good cooperation with the U.S. military and that they were in contact with all the commanders on the ground there and providing them with whatever they had to do in order for them to move forward the -- move forward in their advance against the Taliban.

There were many reports here in the past that the Tali -- that the Northern Alliance had been frustrated with the fact that the United States military had not started -- strike a target that would eventually help the Northern Alliance to make any significant gain, especially in areas in the north where the Northern Alliance is very strong, namely around the city of Mazir-i-Sharif in the north.

It is an important hub there, an important stronghold for the Taliban, and if the Northern Alliance were to take control of that city, of course, that would create a tremendous emotional boost for the Northern Alliance in order to control that northern part of Afghanistan.

I asked General Franks if the United States would expand its role here in Uzbekistan. As you know, there are about 1,000 troops here at Khanabad Air Base south from here, about 90 miles north from the border of Afghanistan. So far those troops are in theory only used for search and rescue operations. I asked the general whether those troops would eventually be also used for more lethal operations into Afghanistan and this is what he answered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. TOMMY FRANKS, CINC, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: We have found that President Karimov has been very forthcoming in providing us the support. Given the overall nature of this campaign, I think that we're very satisfied with that. So have there been additional demands placed on President Karimov that he didn't respond to? The answer is, the answer is no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VINCI: We also asked the General whether he had, during his meeting yesterday in Pakistan with the Pakistani President General Musharraf, whether he had discussions about whether the military campaign had to be halted during Ramadan. There were some reports yesterday that Musharraf had indicated that the military campaign should be somewhat lessened or even halted during the Ramadan coming up in mid-November.

The General said that during his meeting with the General he could not confirm or deny whether Mr. Musharraf had asked him to halt the military campaign during the Ramadan -- back to you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Alessio, explain to us once again what the, what's in it for Uzbekistan to cooperate with the U.S. military in this cooperation?

VINCI: Well, Uzbekistan is an important strategic partner of the U.S. military campaign in this region. Uzbekistan has that military air base that was used during the Soviet Union and therefore the United States is really in dire need of those bases because they would put the U.S. troops very close to the border.

Uzbekistan also wants security guarantees from the United States and it took a while here for the Uzbek government to agree, first of all, to agree to acknowledge that U.S. troops would be here on the ground, mainly because they have their own security concerns here, mainly the IMU, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which is believed to have been operating inside Afghanistan with the support of the al Qaeda group. And this group has organized several terrorist attacks against Karimov and has openly said that they want to unseat Mr. Karimov and his secular government in favor of a more Islamic government here.

So Uzbekistan here is first of all looking for security guarantees that this military campaign against Afghanistan will not just be a military campaign against Uzbeki -- against Afghanistan, but also that Mr. Karimov is very much saying that he wants his borders to be protected and the U.S. military will have to do that in case he is being attacked.

KAGAN: Allessio Vinci in Tashkent, thank you.

HARRIS: Well, and yesterday we did hear the word from the Pentagon, coming from Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, that Ramadan is not going to figure into the planning here.

Let's check in now at the Pentagon.

Ed Lavandera sees, checks in for the first time this morning with us -- hi, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.

General Franks echoing the themes that have been coming from the Pentagon here on Monday. The folks here at the Pentagon reiterating that this campaign, the war against terrorism, will be long. It will take years, not days, not weeks, not months. And that it is something that they're hoping the American public is patient as the military campaign against the Taliban and the al Qaeda network continues, as bombing continues in the fourth week.

The Pentagon is also defending itself against criticism that its war on terrorism has stalled. But to counter that, the Pentagon releasing gun camera video of recent bombings that have been striking the Taliban and al Qaeda networks. Afghan rebels, specifically the Northern Alliance, saying that the U.S. attacks haven't done enough yet to weaken the Taliban's military forces. And so again, more pictures coming from the region, before and after pictures from the Pentagon showing that more of the targets that they've struck, and these in particular, showing maintenance facilities belonging to the Taliban that were targets and the Pentagon saying that there are plenty of these types of targets that the U.S. forces want to continue attacking.

Now, also for the first time, the Pentagon is saying that U.S. special forces on the ground is helping air attacks overhead, specifically, helping out pilots pinpoint specific targets on the ground. They're using laser technology to help direct the pilots in the aircraft that are flying over Afghanistan find the targets that they want to hit.

Now, the U.S. military is also dropping ammunition in the northern part of Afghanistan, hoping that rebel groups that are fighting the Taliban will be able to use that ammunition in its fighting. But the Pentagon acknowledges that a lot of the ammunition that has been dropped so far is having a hard time reaching the front lines and a lot of that movement is just rather cumbersome in that region, navigating the terrain, and that the rebel forces don't necessarily have all the means necessary to move that equipment rapidly.

Now, also, Leon, you mentioned at the beginning about the holiday of Ramadan coming up and Donald Rumsfeld saying that they don't expect the al Qaeda network to take a holiday and don't expect the Pentagon to, either.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The history of warfare is that it has proceeded right through Ramadan year after year after year after year. The Northern Alliance fought the Taliban for the last five plus years. Middle East wars have gone on during Ramadan. There have been any number of conflicts between Muslim countries and between Muslim countries and non-Muslim countries throughout Ramadan.

Needless to say, the Taliban and al Qaeda are unlikely to take a holiday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: One other thing that the U.S. military is considering in its campaign in Afghanistan is perhaps at some point setting up a base in northern Afghanistan. And the hope is that if that is something that is done that it will help facilitate bringing in some of the supplies and the relief equipment a little bit quicker into Afghanistan -- Leon, back to you.

HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks.

Ed Lavandera at the Pentagon this morning, thank you very much -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Let's go to the site of many of those strikes, and that is Kandahar, Afghanistan.

And our Kamal Hyder is joining us on the phone from there on today's air attacks on that city -- Kamal.

KAMAL HYDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, this morning the attack began after four o'clock in the morning and it was significantly heavy. Loud explosions woke up the people of Kandahar. Now, the most dangerous thing here in Kandahar is that most of these old buildings have really thick walls and heavy roofs, are built out of mud and bricks. And every time a bomb falls close by, these buildings can just cave in.

So a lot of people are then, therefore, going up to their roofs. These Allied aircraft are coming in very low, which prompted the Taliban to open anti-aircraft artillery fire on them. And this continuing till almost two o'clock in the afternoon with over flights.

Right now it's quiet here -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Kamal, you're saying that when the bombs start dropping people actually go up on the roof?

HYDER: Yes, they go on the roof. They want to see which direction these bombs are falling. They want to get a view, to get an idea which parts of the city are being targeted. Now, and for the past two days, the western part of the city, known as the Baliapul (ph) area, has received particular attention.

Today, of course, we were also able to see these combat aircraft with our own eyes as they circled over the targets and then unleashed their payloads -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Kamal Hyder joining us from Afghanistan, from Kandahar. Thank you very much. Please stay safe out there.

HARRIS: All right, it is now 21 minutes after the hour.

KAGAN: And checking on business news, nothing safe about the Dow yesterday at the end of the day.

HARRIS: That's right.

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