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American Morning

America Under Attack: What Will the Taliban Do

Aired September 13, 2001 - 09:33   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn it now to Afghanistan, to Kabul, where CNN's Nic Robertson has been standing by. I believe he was able to listen tow a little bit of this news conference.

Nic, I don't want to bury the lead here. They did deny some earlier reports, CNN has not been carrying the, but since they were stated on our air we will just underscore the point; denied reports that Osama bin Laden was being held in custody by the Taliban.

I'm just curious, your thoughts on what you just heard, at least a portion of it, and just the general sense of the mood there in Kabul?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, if we deal first with the issue of Osama bin Laden's detention, certainly the early indication today from the Taliban were that he was not under detention. Because this has become a more central issue through the day, we've pursued Taliban sources this afternoon. We expect to hear back from several sources in a few hours' time exactly what the situation is.

Currently, from the spokesman's office of the spiritual leader of the Taliban, Mulla Omar, and as well from the spokesman within the Foreign Ministry here in Kabul, that at the moment they will neither confirm nor deny the story that Osama bin Laden is under Taliban detention.

However, the current thinking for analyst here listening to the earlier reports is that it would be unlikely. The Taliban have often said in the past, that it would -- they would be far more likely to expel Osama bin Laden than arrest him. But at this stage, we are waiting to hear back from two key sources from the Taliban about whether or not Osama bin Laden is under house arrest.

Now in 1998, shortly after the attack on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the Taliban put Osama bin Laden, as they put it, incommunicado. They said that they were preventing him from communicating with the outside world, and they presented him from talking with journalists.

Now he was, in fact, at various times able to contact members of his family elsewhere in the world. At that time, that indicated a degree of control that the Taliban said they were putting on Osama bin Laden. But, it is very, very difficult here at this time with very poor communication and a very secretive situation, to find out more definitively about Osama bin Laden.

Nobody here knows where he lives, or is willing to say where he lives. His whereabouts, we've been told before, often change. He often moves at night. So, very, very difficult to get hard confirmation on stories like this. The story came out of the United Arab Emirates, not from here in Afghanistan. So again, further checking needs to be done.

As for the mood here in Afghanistan, a lot of apprehension in the city. People concerned about what could be coming next. Three United Nations flights today taking out the last remaining United Nations personnel in the city. Most of the non government Cherokee aide groups working here, they are international workers, have left. And the majority of the workers -- international workers, the international committee from the Red Cross have left as well. That's leaving a lot of people here wondering exactly what's going to happen next.

For them that's a bad omen when they see the international workers here packing up and leaving. Miles?

O'BRIEN: Nic, when you talk about these omens, and the rising crescendo of talk about retaliation on the part of the U.S., or perhaps some sort of NATO response, even?

At what point does Osama bin Laden become just too much of a liability for the Taliban, and I'm cognizant of the fact there is no extradition treaty with the U.S. If that were the case, where might he be sent?

ROBERTSON: Well, between Afghanistan and Pakistan, there are extradition understandings. Pakistan has told the Taliban before of various individuals they've wanted for crimes committed in Pakistan, who they believe were in hiding in Afghanistan. Some of those individuals have been handed over to Pakistan before.

Is that likely in the case of Osama bin Laden? The root and the ties that bond the Taliban to Osama bin Laden are very, very strong. And one should not underestimate them. They go back to Osama bin Laden's role here in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. He played a key role in helping organize, in helping finance not only the military machines, but also the logistic support of the Mujahadeen fighters, that were at the time being supported by the United States as well to help drive out the Soviet occupation that finally ended in 1989.

So Osama bin Laden is owed a debt of gratitude in the Taliban eyes by Afghanistan. So when he sought sanctuary here in 1996, the Taliban felt obliged to give it to him, and many of his spiritual ideas would be in keeping and along the lines of the ideas of the Taliban. There are a lot of issues that bind them together.

Afghan hospitality is extremely generous, almost to a fault willing to befriend people that they would be in trouble. Afghans are a very friendly people, and indeed the Taliban culture. They are ethnic Pashtuns, they come from the southeast of Afghanistan, close to Pakistan. And it is a very friendly and warm, generous tribal spirit that they have -- that puts out a hand of friendship to people that they see and need. So in those senses, there are very strong ties to him.

Unlikely, it would seem at this stage, perhaps to be moving forward, handing him over.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Nic Robertson offering us some excellent insights and contacts from Kabul, Afghanistan. Thank you very much for being with us.

We will, of course, stay in close contact with him as events progress.

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