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CNN Live At Daybreak

Intense Fighting Near Kandahar

Aired November 26, 2001 - 06:01   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: And now the latest from Afghanistan where U.S. Marines are on the ground near Kandahar. It is the last of the Taliban's strongholds and fighting in the area said to be fierce. Details now from CNN's Christiane Amanpour, who's actually in Kabul, Afghanistan.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Catherine it has been generally assumed that U.S. and British personnel have been on the ground for many weeks now. But U.S. officials are now confirming that up to 1,000 U.S. Marines ready to do battle around Kandahar has been dropped at an airport or an airstrip just near Kandahar.

We're told that they are trying to get to -- or, have gotten to an airstrip that is being built outside the city of Kandahar. Also we're being told by U.K. sources that British special forces are also on the way to that region and they expect some big battle to be pushed onto Kandahar, onto the Taliban positions there this week sometime.

CNN sources inside Kandahar are saying that overnight they heard what sounded like heavy fire fight in the direction of that airstrip where it's believed U.S. Marines have landed and that later on they heard airstrikes and saw airstrikes in the city of Kandahar, they said directed around the region of Mullah Omar's compound -- Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban and Kandahar, of course, the Taliban's power base.

Now these Marine expeditionary units, we're told, came from the Peleliu, which is being based out to sea and those pictures that we're showing you are about a week old, are Marine activities on that ship before they headed here into Kandahar area and we're told that even more U.S. Marines and other forces are destined for a battle in Kandahar.

In the meantime, the foreign minister of the Northern Alliance, which controls Kabul and most of Afghanistan now says that he believes that Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden must be somewhere in Kandahar. This is also what the former president of Afghanistan Rabani told CNN last week, that they believe Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden have nowhere else to go but in that province that they still control for the moment and that is Kandahar.

At the same time CNN has been shown access for the first time two security documents that have been found by Northern Alliance intelligence officials, that they have been gathering up from what they call al Qaeda safehouses and security buildings around Afghanistan. From Jalalabad they found a series of passports from throughout Europe and the Arab world, they say may be forged or fake using -- used as travel documents for al Qaeda operatives.

They also showed us visa stamps from Italy, also from Pakistan embassies in both Jordan and Damascus that they have been used to imprint stamps on these passports. Also tickets -- airline tickets from British Airways, for travel from Pakistan to Sweden.

In addition they showed us recipes for poisons and nerve gases and all sorts of lethal gases they say adding evidence to the al Qaeda terrorist network here in Afghanistan -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Christiane, in the battle for Kandahar, any reports of people fleeing Kandahar trying to cross over now into Pakistan?

AMANPOUR: Well there have been reports, not only of people fleeing that way, but also coming towards Kabul. Kabul, of course, north of Kandahar, and there have been reports of some people coming this way -- yes indeed.

CALLAWAY: All right CNN's Christiane in Kabul, Afghanistan. Thank you Christiane. We're going to take you now to the Pentagon and speak with CNN's Bob Franken to give us the latest. Good morning Bob. Now we know the U.S. Marines are there in Kandahar, at least the south of Kandahar now.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We do know that. The significance of that is that up until now the United States has at least publicly acknowledged that it has had commando units -- special operation troops on the ground, operating small control. We've been reporting that for the last couple of weeks.

This is the first conventional group that is arriving. It could go as high as 2,000 -- actually off of two assault ships that have been hovering around in the Arabian Sea just about since the beginning of this -- the Bataan and the Peleliu where this first wave of Marines came from. They were helicoptered in. They would be expected to be part of the effort to try and find the Taliban leadership that's in hiding and the al Qaeda leadership that's in hiding -- of course that would include Osama bin Laden.

For instance, a typical patrol might be that an expedition group of Marines might form a parameter around an area that special forces commandos then would go in and conduct an actual search, for instance of caves. Now they are setting up around Kandahar, which is the last Taliban stronghold.

We are told they have not gone in yet, but could be expected to become part of the force that would secure Kandahar, which has been one of the last holdouts of the Taliban fight. Now as far as the Taliban is concerned, there are still reports of fighting going on in the prison where foreign Afghanistan, foreign Taliban forces had been taken. When they were taken away from Konduz, they were taken to Mazar- e-Sharif. There is fighting -- you can see some of the video there, although U.S. airstrikes have been called in and U.S. commandos on the ground have been helping, we are told that about 100 of the foreign Taliban forces are still shooting it out with Northern Alliance troops and the U.S. and British troops in that prison.

So this is still a very precarious situation in Mazar-e-Sharif. But the big news as far as the Pentagon is concerned, is the expansion now of the ground war with U.S. forces -- that expansion including U.S. Marines -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: You know Bob, a lot of questions. First let's start with Mazar-e-Sharif. Any confirmation from the Pentagon at all that there were any U.S. representatives injured in that melee there.

FRANKEN: Well in the face of a report from one journalist that there had been an U.S. fighter killed. The Pentagon says -- well actually the U.S. government says that there was one CIA paramilitary officer that was wounded. No other -- no other details, but nobody killed according to U.S. officials.

CALLAWAY: And Bob we heard Christiane Amanpour say indication that Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden may indeed be in Kandahar. We haven't seen this type of invasion of U.S. forces there on the ground in any of the other towns yet, have we, in Afghanistan -- a good indication that they may have the same intelligence.

FRANKEN: Well as a matter of fact there has been reporting for several days now that Northern Alliance officials and other opposition forces, a Pashtun tribal leader for instance, said that Osama bin Laden was in hiding in the caves around Kandahar. Of course that is a very complex web of caves, but it does raise the speculation that the Marines are being brought in to reinforce some intensified effort to try and find Osama bin Laden and the rest of the al Qaeda and Taliban leaders.

CALLAWAY: Definitely developing situation there. CNN's Bob Franken on top of it. Thank you Bob.

We're going to go now to CNN's Satinder Bindra who's actually in northern Afghanistan inside the town of Konduz, which is now of course under control of the Northern Alliance. Satinder, since the celebration, still some confusion there in Konduz?

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. There is both confusion and celebration here. But the bottom line is that Northern Alliance forces are now firmly in control of Konduz. Just a few minutes ago, the senior Northern Alliance Commander General Dawoud (ph) held a press conference. He said all the Taliban fighters have fled Konduz. They're in a place called Chorethara (ph).

Now the Northern Alliance is still trying to negotiate with these fighters, trying to convince them to surrender. Here where I am in Konduz there's no more Taliban, at least we haven't seen them. The only Taliban we've seen are dead Taliban fighters. We've seen over the past one or two hours large crowds gather around their bodies.

We've also seen Northern Alliance forces take a significant amount of Taliban fighters prisoners and they have not been kind to them. We've seen Taliban fighters roughly bundled into trucks and driven away. Among the civilian population, Catherine, a great sense of joy, a great sense of optimism that they'll have some peace now that the Taliban aren't here.

We're hearing from the local population that the Taliban were -- quote -- "oppressive". They actually forced people to pray and we're also hearing stories from several residents about how Taliban fighters shot dead the dentist in the local hospital here. The story goes that some injured Taliban fighters went to the hospital and they asked the dentist to operate on them. The dentist said he wasn't qualified and then these angry Taliban fighters turned their guns on the dentist, shooting him dead -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Well Satinder, what is the Northern Alliance doing there in Konduz to try to maintain some peace?

BINDRA: Firstly they're going around from house to house. They're trying to secure the area. They're trying to see if there are no booby traps, there are no Taliban stragglers. In other area where I've been to which have been captured by the Northern Alliance, we've come upon small groups of Taliban fighters, little pockets of resistance, and these people can fight against the Northern Alliance forces.

The Northern Alliance forces are also saying they're going to set up a commission to deal with law and order here. In a short while, they're going to remove most of the Northern Alliance soldiers that are here from the heart of the city -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Satinder I'm going to ask you this question -- I'm not sure that you were able to get any information on it, but I want to ask anyway. We're hearing some reports out of Mazar-e-Sharif of still some problems going on there, still some battling going on in Mazar-e- Sharif with some of the Taliban prisoners who, of course, staged an uprising there. I know you are in Konduz, but are you hearing anything about what is going on in Mazar-e-Sharif?

BINDRA: Yes, those stories are scaring fighters here. Definitely those stories about this revolt inside Mazar-e-Sharif are now trickling down here. But so far amongst the surrenders that we've seen and we've seen some 2,000 Taliban fighters surrender here, these surrenders have been quite peaceful.

I've been talking to Taliban fighters who have surrendered and they've said they're actually willing to join the Northern Alliance now to fight against the Taliban. So here no problems that we've seen or we've heard about -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Thank you, CNN's Satinder Bindra in Konduz. Thank you Satinder.

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