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CNN Live At Daybreak

Northern Alliance Making Gains In Southern Afghanistan; Heavy Fighting for City of Konduz

Aired November 15, 2001 - 05:03   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: Well, as we told you at the beginning of this newscast, there's been some fierce fighting going on for the northern Afghan city of Konduz.

Let's go right to Satinder Bindra, who's in Taloqan with the very latest on the action going on there -- Satinder.

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Catherine, some very fierce fighting going on for Konduz. But this news just in. The Northern Alliance says it's taken the important military air field of Shindan, near the Iranian border. Sources in Iran are now also confirming its capture.

Today, even the Taliban conceding they control only four, perhaps five of Afghanistan's 31 provinces. But this war is far from over.

Right here very close to us in Konduz there is a major pocket of resistance. The Northern Alliance claims some 20,000 Taliban fighters are trapped there and they perhaps will fight to death. Just yesterday and again this morning U.S. planes started bombing front line Taliban positions in Konduz.

Meanwhile, the Northern Alliance says its forces are entering the southern Afghan city of Jalalabad. It's impossible at this moment to verify these claims, but the Northern Alliance also claiming headway in the city of Kandahar. They say they've captured the airport in Kandahar.

Kandahar, of course, is the stronghold and the place where the Taliban head, Mullah Mohammed Omar, is believed to be. The Northern Alliance claims there's chaos in the streets in Kandahar. But some sources in Kandahar are telling us the city is still firmly in the control of the Taliban.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAKHIT AL-RAHMAN ZAKRI, DIRECTOR, KANDAHAR CENTRAL HOSPITAL: Everything is under the control of Taliban. All the neighboring areas are under the control of Taliban. I can tell you the Taliban patrols on the roads in the city and around it, everything is under control.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BINDRA: So, Catherine, it's clear what's happening. After establishing almost complete control in northern and central Afghanistan, the Northern Alliance now looking southward, eying two major cities, the cities of Jalalabad and Kandahar, both Taliban strongholds in the south -- back to you, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Satinder, are you hearing anything about the whereabouts now of Osama bin Laden?

BINDRA: Yes. We're getting some more information now than before because with increased Taliban defections U.S. special forces on the ground know perhaps a bit more. What they know now, perhaps, is that Osama bin Laden is in southern Afghanistan. Sources saying he's perhaps very close to the border with Pakistan. Also sources today denying that Osama bin Laden had been captured. They say both Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammad Omar would prefer death to captivity.

So that's the latest here. Even on the Pakistani border, the border guards have been put on alert just in case Osama bin Laden and some of his al Qaeda fighters try to make a break for the Pakistani border -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: All right, Satinder Bindra, joining us from Taloqan.

Thank you, Satinder.

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