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CNN Live At Daybreak

Taliban and Northern Alliance Battling for Control of Kunduz

Aired November 16, 2001 - 06:00   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: In northern Afghanistan, Taliban and Northern Alliance fighters are in a pitched battle for control of the town of Kunduz. The Northern Alliance gave the Taliban a two-day deadline to surrender or face a massive onslaught there. Our Satinder Bindra is in the nearby town of Taloqan, Afghanistan. He checks in now live. Satinder.

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm joining you from the main Mosque in Taloqan where thousands of Muslims have already started observing the holy month of Ramadan. Many people here are fasting from dawn until dusk.

So for the moment at least it appears that religious ceremonies and prayers are taking precedence over the fighting in nearby Kunduz, but the fighting there has by no means been forgotten. People here want the Northern Alliance to engage the Taliban there. It is believed that thousands of Taliban fighters are trapped in Kunduz. They're believed to be very heavily armed. They have about 100 artillery guns and 60 tanks.

Now commanders here expect the fighting in Kunduz to be the heaviest of this campaign so far. What's happening at the moment is Northern Alliance commanders are in touch with some of the Taliban fighters there. They're trying to engineer some defections, but it's still not clear if the hard core Taliban fighters, the Uzbeks, the Pakistanis, will accept any surrender terms.

Reporting from Taloqan, I'm Satinder Bindra for CNN.

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Family and friends of two American aid workers are celebrating their rescue today. The women were part of a group of eight Westerners who had been held by the Taliban for three months. An elated father appeared on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" to talk about how he learned of his daughter's rescue.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

TILDEN CURRY, FATHER OF DAYNA CURRY: As soon as I arrived last night about 5:35, a couple of members of the congregation came up and told me that it had broke on national news and it is just a tremendous sense of relief when I - you know it was the main thing I felt and of course joy came after that. But I just felt release because I've been on pins and needles particularly in the last two or three days.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CALLAWAY: U.S. officials say they plan to debrief the women this weekend before they are allowed to return to the U.S. Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry say that their faith pulled them through this - their harrowing ordeal. That ordeal first began when they were arrested in Afghanistan and charged with trying to convert Muslims to Christianity and here's some of what they had to say.

Well, we'll have to have that for you in just a few minutes.

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