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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Strikes Back: Ramadan in War on Terrorism

Aired October 30, 2001 - 11:40   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get back now to the issues bubbling over in Pakistan and how they dovetail into the U.S. decision-making process.

For a closer look at this, we are joined by our analyst on Pakistan, Mansoor Ijaz, live with us in New York.

Mansoor, good morning. Thanks for coming back again today.

MANSOOR IJAZ, CNN PAKISTAN ANALYST: Good to see you, Bill.

HEMMER: Let's try to figure out who is friend and who is foe on the ground, specifically in Pakistan. You say you should be warned right now about shifting allegiances that can be so fragile. What do you mean by that?

IJAZ: I think it's very important to understand that if this air campaign does not produce some significant, tangible results in terms of enabling the Northern Alliance fighters to progress and take over certain places in Afghanistan, like Mazar-e-Sharif and Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, we can have some very serious problems on our hands. What I'm picking up from people that I talk to in that part of the world is that there is a sort of a devil's pact that is envisioned between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance in the event that United States would not be able to make the air campaign work before the month of Ramadan actually starts.

In a situation like that, where you have American ground troops potentially going in, they could become real targets if they got caught in between these two forces, the Taliban, which are clearly our enemies on one side, and the Northern Alliance, which is not sure whether their military objectives can be met, on the other. I think that is something we have to pay attention to going forward.

HEMMER: There's a legacy, Mansoor. If you talk about the Soviets and their involvement there for the years '79 to 1989, oftentimes, Russian soldiers will come back and tell stories about how they were befriended by what they thought was a friend, but later it turned out to be disastrous. Is that to which you are referring?

IJAZ: That's exactly what I'm talking about. What I'm hearing is that they are considering, in this Afghan mood that took place in Peshawar, Pakistan, last week, rather than discussing how to put a post-Taliban together, some side discussions in secret that took place in which they really talked about creating an Iranian-style system, in which the Taliban leaders would essentially be elevated to the supreme religious leaders, sort of like the ayatollahs in Iran, and at the same time, you'd bring these moderate forces, like President Rabani, back inside Afghanistan. So that's exactly what I'm referring to.

HEMMER: It doesn't get easier the more we talk about it, does it?

Donald Rumsfeld, at the Pentagon, yesterday, said he believes al Qaeda and the Taliban would not take a holiday, his reference to Ramadan. You talked about it in your first answer. What should we be looking for as we approach this day, just about 2 1/2 weeks from now? What would be advisable, from a military standpoint, to try and address and keep in mind some of the things you are discussing now?

IJAZ: I think what we have to try to achieve in the next two weeks is a definitive result in the bombing campaign, that is that we should have taken out whatever military targets we want to from the air and then on the ground begin whatever assaults need to be taken -- the commando raids or whatever we need to do to try to prepare the ground work for the larger forces going in.

There is only one way we are going to be able to win this war against terrorism in that part of the world, and that is for American troops to go in and dismantle al Qaeda and bin Laden and Zawahiri, his deputy, in one shot. We have to get those people out of there, and we have to bring them to trial and show that they are nothing more than common criminals. Otherwise, this doesn't work.

HEMMER: Are we giving too much time, attention, and credit to this Muslim holy month. I only say that because in the past, there have been other wars fought during this time. Are we putting too much emphasis on it?

IJAZ: As a Muslim, I will tell you I don't think there is any precedence whatsoever for us having to stop the bombing campaign or for stopping the ground war or any other things that we need to do military. I think when President Musharraf asks the United States to get on it, he is speaking more as a military man than he is as Muslim or as the leader of a Muslim nation. I think he is much more concerned about achieving a tangible military result early in this process so that we then get on with the process of dismantling the terrorist infrastructure.

HEMMER: At this point, it may be easier said than done, but we shall all see in time.

Mansoor Ijaz, thanks again.

IJAZ: Thank you.

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