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CNN Live At Daybreak

Taliban Intelligence Chief May Be Dead

Aired January 02, 2002 - 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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: But first we begin in Kabul with CNN's John Vause. John joins us live right now and John as I understand it, you've got news about the death of the Taliban's intelligence chief, a pretty brutal man.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. We're getting information from the deputy head of the intelligence here in Kabul for the new interim government -- a man by the name of Abdullah Tawheedi. He tells CNN that in fact the head of the intelligence under the Taliban regime, a man named by the name of Qari Ahmadullah, was in fact killed in the last two or three days.

Tawheedi tells us that Ahmadullah was staying at the home of a local Taliban commander in the Khost province, which is in Eastern Afghanistan. Tawheedi says that house was hit by U.S. bombs during one of their bombing campaigns killing Ahmadullah. Tawheedi tells us that Ahmadullah's body was then identified and later buried in his hometown. As for the local commander he was staying with, we understand that he did, in fact, escape.

Of course Ahmadullah was the head -- the feared head of the Taliban intelligence agency. He was notorious for his cruel torture methods, using cables to whip people as well as electric shocks. We also have some lighter news out of Kabul today, some vaccinations by UNICEF and the Ministry of Health, as well as other aid agencies that have begun this week.

They're hoping to vaccinate, something like 1.2 million people in this week alone. Now they're vaccinating for the disease measles, which is the number one vaccine preventable disease in Afghanistan. Now this vaccination program according to -- according to UNICEF, should save something like 35,000 lives in this year alone. Many children die because of measles here, because of complications like pneumonia and other issues relating to poor health -- things like malnutrition as well.

Now they're starting in Kabul and after they do the vaccinations in Kabul, they then -- they then hope to move out to the other areas. They couldn't do this in other areas around the country because of the fighting here for the last few years. It simply was unsafe. They couldn't reach many isolated communities, but now with this interim government in place, they say it's relatively safe to move to the other 28 provinces in Afghanistan. They hope to begin those vaccinations by the end of March -- Carol. LIN: John, getting back to this story of the Taliban's intelligence chief. I was interested in learning in our own internal wire service that one of our own translators there in Afghanistan actually his family had a personal experience with this man. Can you tell us a little bit about what happened to his brother?

VAUSE: Yes, it's one of our translators here by the name of Jaba (ph). He's a young man, only 21 years of age. He tells us that his brother was in fact taken in by the intelligence agency, accused of being a commander for the Northern Alliance, which Jaba (ph) tells us here he wasn't. He also said that his brother was tortured, he was held in jail for many, many months, and that finally his mother got to see him.

His brother was blue from the beatings. He had been held under water. He had been repeatedly beaten and held in very, very poor conditions. But finally the family managed to guarantee his safety and his release with a cash payment of around $500. According to Jaba (ph) that's how they did business here under the Taliban.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much. John Vause reporting live from Kabul, keeping a track on that story.

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