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CNN Live At Daybreak

Mullah Omar Remains At Large; Salang Tunnel Reopens

Aired January 04, 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: For more now on the hunt for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, we turn to CNN's Jeff Levine at the Pentagon. Good morning Jeff. Does the Pentagon have any idea where Mullah Omar is right now?

JEFF LEVINE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well despite rumors to the contrary Carol, Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader, has not been arrested. That word from a spokesperson for the Afghan Defense Ministry. That contradicts a statement made earlier by another Afghan official. He said that Omar had been arrested.

He told German TV that that was the case. However, we understand that Omar has not been arrested. The Defense Ministry spokesperson saying that if indeed Omar had been arrested he would know about it. After Omar - after Osama bin Laden, Omar is the second most wanted man on the American military list of terrorists. A U.S. military spokesman tells CNN he couldn't verify Omar's arrest. So far negotiations to arrange Omar's surrender have failed.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We do want to capture Osama bin Laden and Omar and the al Qaeda and Taliban leadership. We're working on it, but even if we were to capture them tomorrow, our job would still be far from over. And that work is well organized, it's global. We continue to get additional intelligence information, which reinforces our conviction as to the breadth and depth of that terrorist network. So we do have a good distance to go.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

LEVINE: Now Omar is said to be in the northern Helmand province. He's protected by some 1,500 Taliban troops. Meanwhile there are about 273 detainees from the Afghan war and they are said to be headed to Guantanamo. That is an American Naval Base in Cuba. That could begin as early as next weekend. We're told the military is building a detention facility at the compound. Sources say it could hold as many as 2,000 people. Its cost is about $60 million.

Currently most of the prisoners are being held in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. It's become a very, very busy place. Meanwhile the air war continues, but on a reduced scale in Afghanistan. The Pentagon says a terrorist leadership base was hit by B-1 bombers, F- 18s, and AC-130 gunships early Thursday. The target is fairly close to the Pakistan border. The concern was that al Qaeda terrorist forces might reoccupy that area and that would be a threat to the international peacekeeping force, which is going to moving in shortly.

Carol, back to you.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Jeff Levine at the Pentagon.

We've got more news now out of Afghanistan. The journey home for thousands of Afghan refugees is being made easier by the reopening of a critical tunnel and as CNN's John Vause reports, the tunnel is also providing opportunities for small time entrepreneurs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: High in the Hindu Kush Mountains, the Salang Tunnel, a vital link between the north and south, impassable for almost four years since both entrances were blown up by the Northern Alliance to stop a Taliban advance.

But now the tunnel has partially reopened to a steady stream of foot traffic. For thousands of refugees, this has made the journey home so much easier and faster. Like Puma Kahn (ph) and his wife, three children and everything they own. They have traveled from the north to return to the village they fled three years ago.

"This is all I have in my life," he told me. "The rest of my things were stolen by the Taliban or burned. Twice my house was bombed and my 14-year old son was killed."

Puma (ph) and his family will pay one of the many drivers who wait at the tunnel's entrance $40 U.S. to take them the rest of the way.

The other thriving business here, porters. For just a few dollars, they carry back-breaking loads through the tunnel, mostly consumer goods to be sold in the north. Once inside, their journey is not easy.

(on camera): It's about a 30-minute walk from one end of the tunnel through to the other. It's very cold in here, about 20 degrees colder than it is outside. It's also very dusty from the constant foot traffic.

It's also very difficult to see. It's dark in here despite these lights, which they've put up about three weeks ago. But they only work from 8:00 a.m. in the morning to about 3:00 in the afternoon plus they have claustrophobia like I think I just found out I do. It's very uncomfortable to think there's 300 feet of mountain above me.

From the darkness, suddenly groups of people emerge, carrying dim torches or lanterns. But often the only way you know someone is there is by running into each other. In other areas, there are the lights of heavy machinery and where the machines can't go they move the rubble by hand. I stopped to ask these boys how old they are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE (on camera): How old?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five teen.

VAUSE: Fifteen, okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE (voice-over): They work in darkness and dust from early morning to late afternoon.

(on camera): This is the worst of the damage inside the tunnel. We're told that this is in fact the secondary ceiling, which came crashing down during the explosion. They tell us that the structural integrity is still fairly safe, but you have to wonder.

(voice-over): The piles of rubble grow higher toward the northern end, making it hard, slow going for the porters with their heavy loads and families with small children.

(on camera): This is the last section of the tunnel. I can actually see daylight ahead, but it's possibly the most difficult. The rubble is quite high. It's very difficult to get your footing. It's more like an obstacle course. You can imagine it's hot enough without carrying a pack like one of these guys.

(voice-over): Most of the traffic is moving to and from the Kabul region in the south to the northern provinces. Even by struggling through here, the trip can now be measured in hours. Well here it is, the end of the tunnel, the other side, you can finally see daylight. It's not the easiest mile and a half to walk, especially with the goats and all the backpack here. But still, to make the same journey over the mountains would have taken four days.

John Vause, CNN, at the Salang Tunnel, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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