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CNN Live At Daybreak

Fighting in Tora Bora Resumes; Interim Government Starts to Settle In

Aired December 13, 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: Taking you now to Afghanistan in the Tora Bora region where U.S. airstrikes continue there. CNN's Ben Wedeman is in the region as they continue to root out the al Qaeda fighters from the mountain positions there. What's the latest Ben?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes Catherine, they certainly are trying to root out the al Qaeda fighters, but I just got off the radio a few minutes ago, talking to some of them, and they certainly are in a defiant mood. One of them I spoke with says that they will continue to wage Jihad or holy war until in his words American was destroyed.

Now what's interesting is that in listening to this radio traffic that they clearly are still moving around on the surface. I listened to one individual give instructions to another in Arabic to walk down the valley and turn left. So clearly despite the very intense bombing and the bombardment from the ground, these fighters are still able to operate -- they're communicating with one another. They don't seem to be hysterical or exhausted -- so very strange indeed.

Now this is after a second deadline passed. They were expected or they -- there was a deadline for 12:00 noon local time. I believe that's about three and a half-hours ago, for them to surrender. But there was no surrender, of course, and according to Hasrat Ali, a commander of the Eastern Alliance tribal forces fighting al Qaeda, he thinks that it was a ruse anyway, an attempt by al Qaeda to buy time to allow their leaders to flee.

But at the same time, he did say he is convinced that Osama bin Laden is still in the area. Now as all of this is going on, this area has been under intense aerial bombardment during the night. According to the Pentagon, several 15,000-pound daisy cutter bombs were dropped on the hills behind me. These very deadly bombs basically destroying anything in the area and also the Pentagon has released some footage cockpit video footage from Tuesday of a bombing by U.S. forces using satellite-guided missiles. You see in this video what appears to be three individuals trying to run away from the area of the blast.

And today, of course, the bombing has continued. Essentially every half hour or so, we've heard the rumble of bombs falling on the mountains, shaking up incredible amounts of dust, in some cases you can see the fireball as well. This despite the very bad weather at the moment. It is, as you can probably tell, very cold here. It is cloudy, but that has not stopped the U.S. bombing -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Ben, as you said, one of the alliance commanders saying that that deadline only gave al Qaeda leaders a chance to flee. Have you heard any information whether it be from alliance members or from the radio there that there have been people fleeing the region at all.

WEDEMAN: No certainly speaking with the al Qaeda members on the radio, they are -- obviously they are not telling us that they're fleeing. They're putting on a brave face. They're telling us that they're defiant. Surrender is simply not on the cards, that they will continue fighting. But there are -- there is word in this area that there are in fact various different factions among the people in the mountains, the al Qaeda fighters, some of whom would like to surrender.

There are Afghans with them as well and apparently they -- some of them would like to surrender. But it's interesting even listening to them speak in Arabic -- they're Egyptians, Moroccans, from other parts of the Arab world and so it's a very diverse group, and clearly some would like to leave, but possibly their colleagues and comrades are not allowing them to -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: What about U.S. Special Forces possibly on the ground there?

WEDEMAN: Well we've heard from the Pentagon that there are Special Forces -- U.S. Special Forces and we, in fact, have seen them with our own eyes going into the mountains. What exactly they're doing there, we don't know. We do know, however, that the Eastern Alliance rank and file is talking about activities by the U.S. Special Forces and also by British Special Forces, the SAS, in the mountains behind me, and yesterday we tried to get to the front lines and we were very forcibly turned back, which is something new.

Usually you can sneak around. I went in with my camerawoman, Mary Rogers, the other day, disguised as Afghans, and we were able to get through, but this time we tried a variety of tactics and they all failed. So that would indicate that there is someone or something up there that they really do not want the media to see -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: All right, CNN's Ben Wedeman reporting from the Tora Bora region. Thank you Ben.

Well interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai is back in Kabul meeting with other members of the interim government. Karzai was welcomed to the capital yesterday by crowds of people and as CNN's Harris Whitbeck reports, the scene marked a great change since the fall of the Taliban.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They lined the streets leading to the Interior Ministry in Kabul to publicly welcome one of their new leaders and to express their hope the government to be installed on December 22nd will properly represent them. "I am very happy," says Mohammed (ph), an Islamic scholar. "I just hope this interim government will realize this is the only chance for Afghanistan. They must not miss this chance to bring peace and security to this tired country."

Much is riding on the shoulders of leaders like Interior Minister Yunis Qanuni, who will arrive from talks in Bahn to be welcomed by Northern Alliance troops, and by people on the street.

(on camera): It has been years since people have turned out to greet government officials on the street. It's been years since people have felt any confidence in their leaders.

(voice-over): That is because for the last 23 years, those leaders, some of the very same people who are now getting back into power, plunged the country into civil war that virtually destroyed the capital and much of the country. Still, many feel this time around things will be different.

"An old fox needs no experience," says Abdul (ph). "We know who these people are, and we are sure this time around they will bring peace."

Kabul's residents are banking on the strong international interest in making the new government work. Interest, that for the last two decades was virtually non-existent.

Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: Anti-Taliban fighters in Kandahar sharing details of how they took over the city and how the Taliban fell from power there. CNN's Amanda Kibel was with the fighters as they enjoy and revel the swirls of war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANDA KIBEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A brief struggle and then a swift bloody end for a camel these men say once belonged to Arab al Qaeda fighters on the outskirts of Kandahar. It was used by al Qaeda, they say, to transport food and supplies to their fighters in the mountains around the city. Now they have fled and for these men loyal to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the meat of an adult camel will feed their troops for a long time.

Many of them have for the past few months been in the Uruzgan Providence north of here fighting their way towards Kandahar City alongside Hamid Karzai. Now with the Taliban and al Qaeda gone, they have occupied military bases and compounds in Commando (ph), a suburb in the north of Kandahar City. One of Hamid Karzai's military commanders, Mohammed Shah, describes how the Taliban left.

MOHAMMED SHAH, AFGHAN MILITARY COMMANDER (through translator): We captured all of the areas around Kandahar City and then we sent our leaders, our elders to negotiate with the Taliban. They negotiated to take this place over -- the Taliban agreed to a hand-over and then it was handed to us. No fighting, just hand-over.

KIBEL: The commander says it took only eight hours after the negotiations ended for the Taliban to leave. By the time his troops arrived here, the Taliban had gone. Mohammed Shah's brother, Pasta Kai (ph), shows us a storeroom with what he says are Taliban weapons -- some left behind in their houses, others handed in as agreed in the negotiations for their surrender.

Some of these weapons now adorn the shoulders of Mohammed Karzai's (ph) forces as they patrol their part of the city. The rest, we were told, will be given to the new Afghan government. In the same storeroom, boxes of medicines and medical supplies found, says Pasta Kai (ph), in what he describes as houses where the Arabs lived.

Amongst these packages of antibiotics, including Ciprofloxacin, more commonly known as Cipro, a broad spectrum antibiotic used to treat many common infections, and more recently used in the United States for treatment after anthrax exposure. In the courtyard of the compound, Taliban vehicles brought from around the country by Taliban fleeing U.S. bombings and then given over to Karzai forces.

This four-by-four came from Kabul. The man who brought it here was a Taliban fighter. Now, he says, his loyalty is to Hamid Karzai. Amir Mohammed (ph) is 21. He says he joined the Taliban six years ago when he was forcibly recruited. He fought for the Taliban, he says, because Mullah Omar ordered it, but he says his heart was always somewhere else.

AMIR MOHAMMED (ph) (through translator): I like Hamid Karzai -- that's why I joined him, but before he was not in power and I was not able to go to him directly, because I was with the Taliban, when he came to Afghanistan, I went and joined him.

KIBEL: But clearly not everyone shared Amir's (ph) view.

(on camera): Here on the wall of the compound, a poem comparing Mullah Omar to the sun. Just like the sun, it says, which brings warmth and light, Mullah Omar is king of the Afghan people and leader, it says, of the Muslim world.

(voice-over): It's been just a matter of days since Kandahar City changed hands, but as the new order settles in, these kinds of sentiments are already part of history. Amanda Kibel, CNN, Kandahar, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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