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American Morning

The Fall of Kabul: Kabul Taken by Northern Alliance

Aired November 13, 2001 - 11:01   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The landscape has changed dramatically in Afghanistan since you went to bed last night.

CNN's Matthew Chance moved into Kabul early today, one of the first Western reporters to arrive.

He now joins us with a look at what he is seeing and hearing on the ground there.

Hello, there.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Bill, a dramatic turn of events here in the Afghan capital. Kabul, the city you can see behind me, with its lights twinkling in the darkness here. Just about 20 hours or so ago, that was firmly in the hands of the Taliban, but now it is of course the forces of the Taliban have completely abandoned it. They're leaving it for the Northern Alliance forces to take control. They've certainly been doing that as well.

Throughout the course of the day we've been watching trucks loaded with troops moving through the streets of central Kabul, crowds of Kabul residents coming out to welcome those troops, chanting anti- Taliban slogans, also anti-Pakistan slogans, Pakistan of course one of the old sponsors of the Taliban.

So scenes of joy on the streets there in Kabul, but perhaps masking a degree of concern shared by many of the residents here of Kabul, that with the Northern Alliance now back in the city, with their divisions and arguments that they've traditionally had, it could plunge the Afghan capital back into the kind of bitter infighting that really ravaged this city in the years before the Taliban finally took over.

Well, throughout the course of today also, we've been driving around the city to try and get a sense of what this capital has been going through. We found some pretty gruesome images in one park in the center of Kabul. We came across seven or eight bodies. The residents, the local residents were spitting on them, kicking them, saying they were Pakistani members of the Taliban militia, and therefore hated.

At the same time, we also see much more uplifting scenes of relief here. As you mentioned, there are men going into barber shops having their beards completely shaved off, or at least some of them having them trimmed. Of course that was banned underneath the regime of the Taliban. So the very fact that these men are going back to barber shops to have their beards shaved off an act of defiance and relief that the Taliban regime here, at least in Kabul...

HEMMER: All right, Matthew, I apologize for the interruption. Certainly the scene on the streets in Kabul must be quite dramatic. Back to that in a moment.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

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