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CNN Live At Daybreak

Documents Uncovered at Al Qaeda Safe Houses

Aired November 26, 2001 - 05:33   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 major Afghan cities have fallen, the Northern Alliance is discovering some documents showing the inter dependence between the Taliban and the al Qaeda network, and CNN's Christiane Amanpour has the latest from Kabul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Northern Alliance intelligence officials bring sacks full of documents to Kabul -- everything from passports to notes on poisons and killer gases.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We took the documents from the al Qaeda security headquarters in the center of the town of Jalalabad. The Taliban gave them this building.

AMANPOUR: The latest discoveries include passports from all over Europe as well as the Arab world. Officials say they may have been stolen and used as forged travel documents. The cash also includes immigration and visa stamps from Italy as well as Pakistani embassies in Jordan and Syria, perhaps stolen or fake.

In addition, British Airways tickets for travel November 24, 2000 from Pakistan to Sweden via London. One of the travelers appears to be a Swedish woman. Handwritten notebooks similar to those found in al Qaeda houses in Kabul describe poisons like Ricin. Naught (ph) point 35 grams is said to be the lethal dose for adults, a third that amount for children. It's said to kill within three to four days.

The list goes on to include poison gases, how to prepare and use them. The effects of mustard gas, sarin, botchulism. In a basement prison cell here, this man was captured as Kabul fell. He says his name is Osama Abu Kabiar (ph). He says he's Jordanian, spent two years in the army, and recently came here to join the Jihad against America.

"My aim was to train at Sheik Osama bin Laden's camp or with any other group," he says.

This is the Rishcor (ph) military barracks near Kabul, suspected of being bin Laden's biggest training camp in Afghanistan, and home of the 055 Arab brigade. Here Northern Alliance commanders show us the tank and heavy weapons they captured. They also show us what they describe as a noose, where they say the Arabs hanged hundreds of prisoners.

The family of the anti Taliban leader Abdul Haq believes that he was hanged here after being captured on a mission into Afghanistan shortly after the U.S. began bombing. It looks like the Americans bombed this base many times and even local residents say they believe this was an Arab training camp because although the Taliban had closed this place off, residents say they often saw Chechens, Pakistanis and other Arabs come and go.

"Everyone could hear the sound of firing 24 hours a day," says Aticula (ph), who lives nearby. "The noise was so loud you thought there was a war going on."

Since the fall of Kabul Northern Alliance soldiers say they have uncovered firm evidence that the Taliban invited in all sorts of radical Islamic groups from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, all over the Arab world, and beyond.

ABDULLAH TAWHIDI, NORTHERN ALLIANCE FOREIGN MINISTRY (through translator): They needed each other. Al Qaeda could not operate without the Taliban, and the Taliban was dependent on al Qaeda.

AMANPOUR: For example, officials say this map of Saudi Arabia was printed by al Qaeda. It shows U.S. interests in the region, and it calls for Jihad. It was found in the Taliban ministry of defense, and it is almost identical to the map on a book by Osama bin Laden, which also calls for holy war against the American presence in Saudi Arabia. At least one defiant holy warrior says from his prison cell that the fight against America will continue.

"Like me there are hundreds of thousands who wish to do harm to America," he says. "I'm telling you the problem of America is not with Osama bin Laden. He is a symbol. Their real enemy is the Muslim nation. You will soon see with your own eyes the fall of America."

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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