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CNN Live At Daybreak

Muslim Leader Says Group Recruiting Hundreds of Armed Volunteers to Fight Alongside Taliban; Airstrikes Intensifying Against Taliban Positions

Aired November 01, 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A Muslim leader in Pakistan says that his group is recruiting hundreds of armed volunteers to fight alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. Now, if that's true, those volunteers might be well armed, indeed.

As CNN's Carol Lin reports this morning from Quetta, Pakistan, high powered guns are outlawed in that country, but that does not put them out of reach.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's pretty clear in the frontier town of Quetta that the average family's idea of home protection means more than just a handgun.

UNIDENTIFIED PAKISTANI: And you've got Kalashnikovs, Russian Kalashnikovs, then you've got Chinese Kalashnikovs, then you've got local made Kalashnikovs, which are obviously not as good as the Russian or Chinese ones.

LIN: When Pakistan outlawed high powered weapons and demanded citizens turn in their guns, no one seemed surprised when doctors, lawyers, shop keepers showed up with an arsenal powerful enough to outfit an army. Police showed us just a fraction of the automatic rifles, the rocket launchers and the hand grenades that people turned into the government in the last year.

Today, possessing an automatic gun could get you life in prison. But this is Pakistan's wild west, where a man is measured by the size of his weapon and guns are still easy to get.

(on camera): What's that?

(voice-over): In downtown Quetta, gun dealer Hajik Haseim (ph) says he only sells low caliber hunting rifles, which are still legal for sportsmen with a government license. But as he showed us what's in stock, our translator overheard the store clerk assuring two men he could help them get automatic weapons but to come back when the TV camera was gone.

How do people get banned weapons? The deals are easily made after dark. It only took a couple of hours for a gun dealer's salesman to meet us, after a drive through town and up a dirt road. We ended up in a vacant lot, where he pulled out a .9 millimeter automatic handgun, ours for a hundred bucks.

(on camera): Not licensed. Untraceable.

(voice-over): For another hundred, he said he could get a Kalashnikov rifle. We said no. But plenty of people stay well armed.

UNIDENTIFIED PAKISTANI: If we have a gun, we're feeling very protected.

LIN: Store keepers still quietly stash their weapons. We're told the dry cleaner on this street owns a Kalashnikov. Pakistan's government says it still confiscates 150 illegal guns every day. But authorities admit for every weapon collected, they have no idea how many citizens are still heavily armed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Right now you're looking at a live picture of the gate that actually leads to our hotel, where a group of international journalists are now staying. They're saying that they have to position these guards at the front gate because it is for our safety. Now, naturally, it is a police state. Are they there because it is for our safety or are they there because they're trying to control our movements and know where we move around? Perhaps a little of both -- Leon.

HARRIS: Well, Carol, you mentioned the fact that this is a police state and the fact that these guns have been outlawed there for some time now. I mean, what is it about the people of Pakistan that makes them just feel like they can just ignore the law there and still traffic in these guns this way?

LIN: Leon, we've been learning a lot about tribal traditions here and learned yesterday that police authority actually only extends to about five percent of the country. The rest of the countryside is, for all intents and purposes, for the people who live in Pakistan, controlled by their local tribal chiefs and those are the tribal laws and traditions that they most respect. And what they most respect is the power of a gun.

HARRIS: Well, I'll tell you, that's a powerful picture, you out there buying guns in the dark over there. Listen, Carol, you be careful. All right, we hope to talk with you later on.

Our Carol Lin reporting live for us from Pakistan. We appreciate it. We'll talk to you later on.

LIN: Thanks, Leon.

HARRIS: Over to you, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Well, now we're going to take you inside northern Afghanistan and talk with CNN's Matthew Chance about the U.S. air strikes that have been intensifying against Taliban positions on the frontlines -- Matthew, what's the latest from there?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Catherine, you join me in this very forward position overlooking the Shamali Plains north of the Afghan capital. Of course, those front lines between the Taliban forces and those of the opposition Northern Alliance here in northern Afghanistan. I can tell you, it's a very wet day today. The weather has taken a severe change for the worst, a turn for the worst. None of the intensive bombardments either that we've been witnessing from this position over the past few days from jets of the U.S.-led coalition over on those Taliban front line positions just a few kilometers from where we're standing right now.

The opposition forces of the Northern Alliance, though, say they have sent additional forces, several thousand troops, they say, to these front line positions, perhaps in anticipation of some kind of push on the Afghan capital, Kabul. Earlier today, those forces were on parade in their new uniforms that they've just been issued with elsewhere here north of the Afghan capital, Kabul. Though I should say at this stage there is no indication at this point that there is any movement of the Northern Alliance forces out of those defensive positions a few kilometers from here to penetrate deeper into Taliban controlled territory. But clearly, Catherine, we're watching the situation very closely, indeed -- back to you.

CALLAWAY: All right, thank you, CNN's Matthew Chance, joining us from northern Afghanistan. Thanks, Matthew.

HARRIS: Well, it looks as though the weather is starting to turn there.

CALLAWAY: Yes.

HARRIS: That's the first time we've seen rain over there in that location where Matthew Chance has been reporting from for the past couple of weeks.

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