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CNN Live At Daybreak
Details Coming Out on Rescue of Aid Workers
Aired November 15, 2001 - 08:11 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: We want to talk now more about the rescue of those eight western aid workers. It required quite a bit of coordination and some degree of luck. Our own Jim Clancy has more from Islamabad. Jim, is it becoming any clearer about the --
JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening.
ZAHN: -- specifics of the rescue?
CLANCY: Well, some of the specifics were released rather early. How they exactly got out, we don't know. We do know that they were taken out by U.S. special operations helicopters. We do know that opposition forces in the town of Ghazni were able to free them. Coordination was made through the Red Cross, through the opposition fighters and then the U.S. military stepped in to save the day producing sighs of relief literally heard around the world.
Now among the eight international workers that had been held for the past three months were two Americans, Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry. These two young women were airlifted along with the other six aid workers back to Islamabad early on Thursday. They spent the day with U.S. Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin. She described how they spent the day talking on the telephone, hugging and kissing the relatives who were waiting for them here and of course, attending to other matters as well. Let's listen to a little bit of how the ambassador described the day.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
WENDY CHAMBERLIN, U.S. AMBASSADOR: It was an enormously emotional, joyous moment. The parents of the two American girls were on hand to greet them. They have been here nearly the entire time that the girls have been detained in Afghanistan. They've been living with us in our embassy, sometimes in my home, sometimes in the homes of our consular officers. Parents have become part of our family and this reunion was joyous. It was emotional. It was a wonderful moment for all of us.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
CLANCY: All of the aid workers that included some four Germans and two Australians were tired, exhausted even. It had been very stressful. It was one of the darkest moments. Many thought they were going to become human shields for the collapsing Taliban defenses. But they were all smiles after they landed in Pakistan having survived an ordeal. Let's listen to what one of them had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
GEORG TAUBMANN, GERMAN AID WORKER (through translator): The Northern Alliance people came in. This was in Ghazni. They opened the prison and we were free and we got out of the prison and we walked through the city and the people came of the houses and they helped us and they treated us and they were all clapping and they didn't know there were foreigners in the prison, so it was a big attraction to anybody that came out of the houses in the city and they were celebrating and waving to us and hugging us and it was like a big celebration for all these people. And I think this was -- is one of the biggest days in my life.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
CLANCY: One of the biggest days in George Taubmann's life to be sure in a significant moment in the campaign being led by the United States. That is because retrieving, getting the freedom for these eight aid workers was one of the goals that President Bush set when he started this mission. Paula.
ZAHN: Jim, ambassador earlier on had some interesting things to say about reports that potentially the Taliban had planned to come back and move the aid workers, again, that perhaps the constant pounding of their command and control prohibited them from doing that. And she said that sort of is her speculation at the moment -- they did plan to come back. Have you heard anything more about that?
CLANCY: Well certainly that was the impression of the freed prisoners. They felt that they were being taken first out of Kabul and then later out of the town south of Kabul. They were going to be taken to become, in effect, human shields for the Taliban. That was their worst nightmare and even as if the prison gates were being opened, as the opposition fighters were coming in, it was their fear at that moment that it was actually the Taliban coming to take them away to their stronghold in Kandahar. Paula.
ZAHN: Jim Clancy, thanks so much. The eight aid workers, as Jim just said, were flown out of Afghanistan aboard three U.S. special forces helicopters and we've heard a lot about special ops in this new war. Bob Franken can tell us more about the role these forces are playing in Afghanistan. Good morning again Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Paula, and it's a growing role, as you know, as for those special operations choppers. They flew over some hostile territory. You know that's a very dangerous thing to do in a low-flying helicopter. About 50 miles away from Kabul is where they picked up the aid workers and brought them back and then on their way to Pakistan where they'll soon, the ones from the United States, will be coming to this country.
Now special operations forces are becoming the preferred way to have the U.S. involved in Afghanistan. We're seeing some video already of them at roadblocks, seeing them directing traffic. We're not seeing them as they very aggressively pursue the al Qaeda leadership, the leadership of the Taliban, to pursue Taliban forces who might be going to the hills to hide out and try to conduct a guerrilla war -- that type of thing, it's the made to order function of commando forces like the U.S. special operations group and the British counterparts will be accompanying them and Pentagon officials say we're going to see much more of that, much less of the aerial bombing that has characterized this war so far.
However we had evidence of one very specific hit by bombers and that was of an al Qaeda headquarters facility, which was located in a city that they're not telling us. This was an area where senior al Qaeda leaders would gather. We're told by Pentagon officials they don't believe that the senior officials were among those who were killed in this bombing. In fact they say definitely that Osama bin Laden was not in that building, but Osama bin Laden now is one of the very specific reasons that the special operations groups are in the country. They're trying to hunt him down in much the same way that police investigators would and they're being very, very aggressive about it. Paula.
ZAHN: Thanks Bob, appreciate that report.
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