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CNN Live At Daybreak

Critics of War Offering Alternative to Fighting

Aired November 02, 2001 - 08:13   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back at 18 minutes after the hour. As the month-long campaign against Afghanistan continues, there have already been some admitted missed cues by the U.S., errant bombs and some of the resulting casualties.

Now critics of the war are offering an alternative to the fighting, actually bribing local warlords inside Afghanistan. That is in this week's "Newsweek" in an article called "Warlords for Sale or Rent." Evan Thomas, the assistant managing editor at "Newsweek" co- wrote the article and he joins us from Washington this morning. Good to see you - welcome.

EVAN THOMAS, ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR AT NEWSWEEK: Hi Paula.

ZAHN: Hi, so Evan, I wanted to start off by reading a very small part of the article to give people context for this warlord's article. You and your co-writer write one commander switched sides no fewer than six times. Another was jokingly said to practice a kind of seasonal loyalty. In the brutal summers, he escaped Kandahar (INAUDIBLE) while in the equally rugged winters, he defected from Kabul in the north. Is the United States in the process of trying to buy or rent these very valuable warlords?

THOMAS: We would like to. I don't think we're as far along as we would like to be. The problem is the CIA doesn't have as good contacts as they wish to have. They don't even have Pashtun speakers. We have to do through the Pakistanis and they're kind of an unreliable middleman in this. They have a lot of friends in the Taliban. So the point is we would like to buy as many of these guys as we could. The question is whether we can.

ZAHN: So, Evan, if the United States could, how do you do that?

THOMAS: Well it's a tricky business. You can't just - I gather from talking to people who have experience in these things, you can't just walk over, open a bag of cash, and say here, take it. That would be offensive. It would involve a loss of face. It requires a lot of cups of tea and talk and not just money, but promises of future employment. A lot of these guys want to be promised that they'll be the governor of this or that province. So it's a tricky face-saving exercise and the problem with it historically has been that once you buy them, they don't necessarily stay bought. The expression is that you can - you can't buy them, but you can rent them. ZAHN: And you say so far you don't believe the United States government has been capable of doing this, but are there indications that there is cash, you know, in the region to do just that - preparations to do just that.

THOMAS: Sure. I think -- well Abdul Haq who died last week who was ambushed, one of these potential warlords was carrying cash. Now the CIA denies that it was its cash and in fact Abdul Haq supporters say he wasn't - he wasn't doing the bidding the CIA. But the fact is he went in there with bags of money. Unfortunately he got caught by the Taliban and executed.

ZAHN: So walk us through what happens next. First of all, what kind of prices are we talking about here? What will someone hire themselves out for or rent themselves out for?

THOMAS: They say money goes a long way in a country where there's absolutely nothing. So you know in theory $1 million would go a very long way there. But again, it's not just the amount of cash. It's promises of security. There are tricky alliances that have to take place. There is a little bit of good news today actually in "The Washington Post" that there is one of the warlords is at least begun some kind of a interaction down south (INAUDIBLE) warlord. He was attacked by the Taliban.

That's the first inkling that there's any success here. Now there's no indication that he was being paid for by the CIA, but I know that that's the intention of American intelligence is after all, it was never expected to put ground troops in here. Nobody in the military was all that (INAUDIBLE) about bombing. It has always been the strategy to try to use cash here. This is - this is not an alternative. This is something that has always been part of the strategy. The hope has always been that if you spread enough money around, somebody will actually deliver bin Laden.

ZAHN: But the reality of it is even if you got one or two of these warlords and what are the chances of getting Osama bin Laden even if (INAUDIBLE) you know hand out somewhat (ph) millions of dollars.

THOMAS: Well if you get the right warlord, you know, there's been a lot of criticism of the overall war strategy here, but from the very beginning, the idea was look, we're not going to put in ground troops. Ground troops is the only way you can guarantee success. Bombing has never - bombing alone has never won any war. So there always had to be some kind of plan B - well the special forces, but in order for special forces to find bin Laden - for our Rangers, Delta Force and so forth to find bin Laden or other Taliban leaders, you have to had intelligence.

The best source of intelligence comes from these warlords. They are the people who have the best chance of knowing where the Taliban leadership is. So you need them, not just to stage (INAUDIBLE) but to give you intelligence.

ZAHN: Well your article was absolutely fascinating. Once again it is calling - called "Bribing Local Warlords Inside Afghanistan" in this week's "Newsweek". Thank you for your time this morning Evan.

THOMAS: Thanks Paula.

ZAHN: Appreciate you joining us. Miles.

O'BRIEN: Do an awful lot for the cost on one crew (ph) missile, I think.

ZAHN: Oh yes.

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