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American Morning

America Strikes Back: Taliban Soldiers Defect to Northern Alliance

Aired October 18, 2001 - 12:33   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.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: After 12 days of airstrikes, we are learning that the Taliban is showing signs of unraveling.

CNN's Matthew Chance has talked to some Afghan soldiers who once stood with the Taliban.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former fighters of the Taliban, now heavily armed defectors to a resurgent opposition. For weeks, the Northern Alliance has claimed mass defections to its ranks. Hundreds are said to have switched sides. These are the first of those calling themselves ex-Taliban fighters we actually met. They number just 10.

Abdel Kayoom (ph) says he fought with the Taliban for three years, and as his new comrades in arms looked on, he told us why he left. They exploded bombs in America, and they killed the Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Masood, he says. We don't have any good memories of the Taliban; they're just terrorists.

It seems the line between the Taliban and associates of Osama bin Laden simply isn't acknowledged here.

Away from the crowds, we sat with a second self-declared defector, Abdul Defal (ph), another long-serving Taliban fighter. He told us his group came from front lines, north of Kabul. Three hundred Taliban, he said, wanted to switch sides, but he and his nine friends were the only ones that came.

The Taliban are demoralized and scared, he said. I can't say how long they will last, but their days are numbered.

Alliance commanders say the more U.S. bombs that fall on Taliban positions, the more defectors they're likely to see.

(on camera): It may seem like an easy way of scoring publicity points at the expense of the Taliban, but attracting defectors is a key military strategy of the Northern Alliance. For an army with limited weapons and ammunition, each defector is one less man to fight.

(voice-over): As yet, these isolated defections fall short of collapse in the Taliban ranks. But this conflict is no stranger to changing alliances and fighters switching sides, and the hope of the opposition is that more of this will turn the tide.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Northern Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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