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CNN Live At Daybreak

Delegates Charged with Shaping Afghanistan's Political Future Have Made Official Agreement

Aired December 05, 2001 - 05:01   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: Delegates charged with shaping Afghanistan's future, political future, have made their official agreement. They have signed it.

Joining us now from their meeting in Germany is CNN's Bettina Luscher with this breaking news. They signed it just a short time ago, right, Bettina?

BETTINA LUSCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed. Good morning, Catherine.

And it was really an important moment, an historic moment here when these, the leaders of the delegations sat down to sign this agreement that they have hammered out over the last nine days. It was really exciting up to the last moment, not quite certain whether all the names could be filled in.

The important news, of course, who will head this next interim administration for the next six months, Hamid Karzai. He is, of course, one of the military leaders still fighting battles in Afghanistan. He's a Pashtun leader. He is close to the former king of Afghanistan.

But the other top jobs in this next government, in this next administration will go to people that you have seen often in the last few days and weeks on our television screens -- Abdullah Abdullah, the foreign minister; Yunis Qanuni, the interior minister; and Mohammad Fahim, one of the generals fighting along Shah Massoud, of course, the slain Northern Alliance leader who was killed right after, or right before September 11.

You're watching pictures now, of course, from the signing ceremony, from the ceremony where these delegates are quietly celebrating this momentous decision -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Tell us a little bit more about Karzai's role in this interim government. Was there much debate over what his role would be?

LUSCHER: Well, there was a little bit. There were other candidates who were also in the running. But apparently really he had the best things to offer, being acceptable to the other groups that are running in this administration. Of course, the Northern Alliance, the strongest faction here. After all, they have driven the Taliban from power. But they have always said they were willing to share power. Therefore, the head of the government going to somebody who does not belong to their group.

But he is considered a very good leader. He has a Western education, fluent in English, has spent some time in exile in Pakistan, returned to Afghanistan in October to keep up the battle again. And he has, of course, a tremendous task in front of him of trying to unite this country and just try to get it over the next so crucial important next few months. And we will have to see how he will do it -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Was some of the most intense debate at the end of this meeting? Because we know that it was coming down to the wire here, this discussions going on now for some nine days.

LUSCHER: Yes, it was. And it was really unclear till the last moment. Just as one small anecdote, for example, the German chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, and his foreign minister were supposed to fly in here and they were apparently waiting at the airport, weren't quite sure whether they should get onto the plane to come here, the Germans quite deliberate in a sense trying to put the pressure on these Afghan delegates, one official here saying if we don't show up here and we don't put up this signing procedure, we still might be here in a week.

So they were trying to make the situation comfortable for the delegates, but also intense pressure. Today, later on, there's a donor conference in the German capital, Berlin, where donor countries are ready to help with hundreds of millions of dollars to this war ravaged country. So now they can go and say we have a deal, we have an agreement, now please help us, now please give us money -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: A tremendous accomplishment, indeed, this agreement.

Bettina Luscher, thank you, Bettina.

In Afghanistan, anti-Taliban forces are taking on al Qaeda fighters. They're hiding in the foothills of Tora Bora. It's believed that that may be where Osama bin Laden is hiding.

And CNN's Jim Clancy is going to join us now from Kabul with the latest on that -- Jim.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the situation near Jalalabad, the Tora Bora region, still very much fluid. What is happening there is the U.S. appears to be enlisting the help of local commanders on the ground. Now, it was only about 24 hours ago that one of those local commanders said that Osama bin Laden had, indeed, been sighted in the area. That local commander saying he sent a message to bin Laden, telling him to surrender to spare more innocent Afghan lives. He said he got no response.

One has to put all of this into perspective. It's unclear the reliability of the sources on that sighting of Osama bin Laden, but clearly the U.S. and members of the local militias that are in eastern Afghanistan do know that some al Qaeda fighters are there, that there's a network of caves and reinforced tunnels in that region that were used by the al Qaeda organization. That's where they are concentrating at least a part of their search.

But they, of course, are not giving up on the area of Kandahar. There's a possibility that Osama bin Laden could be there, as well, or some believe he may be on the move, trying to evade the net that is being cast all around him -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: All right, thank you, Jim Clancy, joining us from Kabul now.

But just a few moments ago, CNN's Brent Sadler, who was in the Tora Bora area, phoned in an exclusive report on what's going on in there. Let's listen to that now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly we now can confirm that there is stiff resistance from al Qaeda at the entrance, the approaches to the peaks of Tora Bora, where it's understood, it's been widely reported, although there's no definite fix on this, that Osama bin Laden himself may be hiding out, along with some of his top lieutenants. But, as I say, no confirmation on that fix, because the real difficult part of this is getting to the peaks of Tora Bora, where that tunnel complex is.

At the moment, this battle is just for the low ground. I can see Mujahedeen troops armed with rocket propelled grenades, machine guns and small mortars heading along a road, the approach entrance, the trailhead, if you'd like, to the Tora Bora high spots and they are receiving incoming small arms fire.

The two sides about two kilometers apart, I'm told. And while this is going on, we've seen circling overhead heavy U.S. bombers and within the past 40 minutes there's been two heavy strikes, a series of explosions in the same place where those Mujahedeen tanks were firing.

Now, the commander on the ground here told me there was no coordinated attack plan between ground Mujahedeen forces and the U.S. bombers. But certainly they're both pinpointing the same targets.

So an important engagement of al Qaeda forces going on right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: All right, that was CNN's Brent Sadler reporting to us just a short time ago from right outside of the foothills of Tora Bora in Afghanistan.

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