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U.S. Bombing Runs Against Frontline Taliban Troop Positions Today; Pentagon Spokeswoman Says Small Afghan Village was a Terrorist Target

Aired November 02, 2001 - 05:00   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Passengers wait for lawmakers to work out their differences over airline security legislation. The House takes a vote but a final decision still in a holding pattern.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: New terror threats span to key bridges on the West Coast.

CALLAWAY: Heavy bombing in Afghanistan -- the defense secretary says the bombing runs are making measurable progress.

HARRIS: And the Bronx Bombers are just one win away from a champagne bath that many did not expect.

Good morning. It is Friday. It's November 2, 2001. And from the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Leon Harris.

CALLAWAY: Good morning, everyone. I'm Catherine Callaway and thank you for joining us.

Let's begin this morning with the latest news.

California Governor Gray Davis says that state officials have received a credible threat against major bridges on the West Coast. Davis says elaborate security measures that are already in place are being stepped up and the National Guard has been ordered to increase security on California bridges. Justice Department officials say the threat is uncorroborated, but is being investigated.

An early supporter of the anti-terror campaign is now calling for a cease-fire in the Afghan air strikes. The Indonesian president says that the longer the conflict continues, the more likely the global coalition will fall apart. There were new U.S. protests in Indonesia today sponsored by a Muslim political party.

Also, anthrax testing of the Supreme Court building has shown the bacterium is present only in the mail room. The Justices plan to return to their regular courtroom on Monday to hear oral arguments. The high court heard cases this week in a Washington federal courthouse after the mail room anthrax discovery. We'll have another latest development coming up for you in about 15 minutes.

HARRIS: In the meantime, we are off to the Shamali Plains. We're talking about northern Afghanistan.

Matthew Chance checking in now, reporting on intense U.S. bombing runs against frontline Taliban troop positions today -- Matthew, what's the latest?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Leon. A lot of activity in the skies over Afghanistan. Certainly from our vantage point here overlooking the Shamali Plains, overlooking those front line positions where the Taliban forces are facing off against those of the opposition Northern Alliance.

Certainly for the past few hours we've been seeing very intensive bombardments of those front line positions. There was a jet roaring overhead just a few moments ago striking those Taliban front line positions north of the Afghan capital Kabul.

From our vantage point, we're able to see the plumes of black smoke billow high into the sky over those front line positions. We can't confirm, though, from here exactly what's being struck. Certainly these are where the Taliban front line positions are. Northern Alliance commanders say they're passing on detailed intelligence to the U.S.-led coalition about exactly what tank batteries and artillery and troop concentrations are over there. So I think we can assume that that is at least what's being targeted.

At the same time, though, there is no indication yet of any Northern Alliance push from their defensive positions here behind me deeper into Taliban controlled territory. Northern Alliance officials say they are reinforcing these positions, moving literally thousands of additional troops here north of the Afghan capital. But again, no sign yet of any offensive on the Afghan capital, Kabul. Obviously, Leon, it's something we're watching very closely, indeed -- back to you.

HARRIS: Yes, exactly, Matthew. We are watching that. And let me ask you about that. Are we seeing here at least a shift here in their thinking? Because up until now, for the last couple of weeks or so, the Northern Alliance had been saying that they were going to wait for a political solution before actually entering Kabul or actually pressing on Kabul. Has that idea totally gone out the window now?

CHANCE: Well, they've said all along that the political considerations would not make any difference to their push on the Afghan capital. What they are saying now, though, is that they won't actually enter the city of Kabul until some kind of political agreement is signed and is on the table. They say they've given us two options. They've given two options. They say they'll either wait at a point 15 kilometers outside of Kabul while some kind of a political agreement is signed and put on that table or other than that they'll simply advance to the gates of Kabul, which, of course, would place additional pressure on the parties involved in negotiating some kind of future government for Afghanistan.

So there is room for compromise on the part of the Northern Alliance, but they're sending very mixed signals, too, about exactly what they will or will not do if the opportunity arises for them to advance on Kabul.

HARRIS: Matthew Chance reporting live this morning from the Shamali Plains of Afghanistan. We appreciate it. We'll talk with you later on -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: a Pentagon spokeswoman commenting on the attack on a small Afghan village said, "It was a terrorist target and we hit it, what we intended to hit."

CNN's Nic Robertson was among a group of journalists taken on a tour of the village by Taliban officials, who claim that up to 100 civilians were killed there. Nic reports from the village some 42 miles north of Kandahar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED TALIBAN OFFICIAL: This is a glove of children.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Holding a girl's dress, Taliban officials show what they say is evidence of civilian life in the village. All around, signs of destruction -- collapsed mud and brick houses littered with what appear to be missile or bomb fragments. And more signs of domestic life -- a box of soap powder here, a shoe there.

This visit with Taliban officials a firsthand chance to examine previous accounts of civilian deaths here in Chowker Korez 10 days ago.

(on camera): Looking around the village, there appears to be a lot of evidence that this was a place occupied by poor people. There is a radio, what's left of it, and the scraps of what appears to be heavy armament. But it is impossible to verify the accounts of how many people died.

(voice-over): And some here wonder whether a convoy of cars that arrived that night might have triggered the attack. Mullah Saed Naebi (ph), the local official, explains how eight cars came from Kandahar carrying people he says were afraid of bombing there. From a nearby village, Golba Kahn (ph) says the village was so full of people, some had to sleep outside and tells of panic in his family when what he describes as helicopters and planes attacked.

At the time of the attack, Taliban officials claim 93 people died. The figure now, according to locals, is 92 dead and 16 injured and everyone here rejects Pentagon claims that Chowker Korez was a base for the Taliban and al Qaeda.

A few miles away, reflecting in solitude at the edge of a desolate graveyard, Mungar (ph) mourns the loss of his brother and 30 other family members. He says he was there when the bombs started falling and escaped during the first wave of the attack. He survived, he says, by lying in a dry river bed nearby.

Contrary to the other witnesses, however, he says only three cars came to the village before the attack. He, too, says he has no idea why they were bombed.

No one dares to come back to Chowker Korez, locals say. They say they fear attack. Indeed, our driver, who punctured his car on this trip, went to several villages looking for help and was turned away by several communities. Most around here, it seems, don't want strangers in cars turning up unannounced.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Chalkakarez, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: And just a footnote to Nic's reporting there, a Pentagon official tells CNN that that village is a Taliban encampment, adding, "The people there are dead because we wanted them dead." The Pentagon has repeatedly stressed that it is trying to minimize civilian casualties in Afghanistan even as the Taliban regime continues to harbor terrorists who are connected to the September 11 attacks that claimed thousands of innocent lives in the U.S.

HARRIS: Let's get the latest word from the Pentagon right now.

Our Ed Lavandera checks in this morning. He's got the latest on the U.S. military strategy -- good morning, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

We've seen a lot of evidence from the region there as we've talked this morning confirming what the Pentagon here says, that now 80 percent of the U.S. missions are intending to attack the front lines of the Taliban, specifically in northern Afghanistan, where the hope is that these attacks will soften the front lines, cut off communications and supply lines between the Taliban forces, make it easier for the Northern Alliance rebel forces to attack those groups and perhaps make it easier for U.S. ground forces to come into the ground.

Also, another aspect of the U.S. air strikes is U.S. air pilots targeting the complicated cave system that exists in Afghanistan that we've talked a lot about, that Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda network uses for its safety. The latest images released by the Pentagon show the attacks on this cave system and the attack -- they're also triggering off another set of explosions, the Pentagon saying they suspect that there was a fuel station there or an ammunition station there and that's what caused that triggering of secondary explosions to happen.

Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense, says that the best work in Afghanistan is being done where U.S. troops are on the ground. But getting the U.S. troops there hasn't always been easy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Recently ground fire was a situation that prevented someone from getting in, some, a team from getting in. But we have a number of teams cocked and ready to go. It's just a matter of having the right kind of equipment to get them there and the landing zones in places where it's possible to get in and get out, and we expect that to happen, I've expected it to happen every day and I'm sure it will in the days immediately ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: One of the other issues the Pentagon is dealing with is those humanitarian packages that have been dropped throughout Afghanistan. As you can see, they're yellow in color but similar unexploded cluster bombs, which have been dropped over Afghanistan in recent weeks, are also yellow. And the fear is that the Afghanistani civilians will confuse these two different packages. The Pentagon says that from now on, from here on out they will try to change the color of those humanitarian relief packages to blue so that those cannot be confused once they are on the ground.

One other note, later today Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will leave for Russia. He will meet with other leaders in the region as well, specifically probably four other countries. Exactly details on which of those, which countries those might be haven't been released yet, but obviously strengthening the coalition in the region is a high priority for the Bush administration -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks much.

Ed Lavandera at the Pentagon. We'll talk with you later on throughout the morning.

CALLAWAY: Well, the U.S. mounts a new offensive against the Taliban, but not with weapons. We'll have details on that story when our coverage continues.

HARRIS: That's right. Then after the break we'll check business news. David Haffenreffer checking in with you just a couple of minutes from now, so don't go away.

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