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American Morning

Hunt for bin Laden Winds Down; Musharraf To Make Important Speech

Aired January 08, 2002 - 12:02   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's begin right now in Afghanistan, where U.S. bombs have dropped once again, and U.S. Special Forces are now on the move. And in a small but persistent pocket of resistance, an al Qaeda fighter takes his own life rather than be taken alive. That happened in Kandahar, which is where we find CNN's Bill Hemmer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Another sign of such a deadly environment here in Afghanistan, early this morning in central Kandahar. An al Qaeda fighter, holed up in a hospital for weeks, jumped from a second story window trying to escape. Immediately, he was surrounded by guards. The al Qaeda fighter pulled out a grenade and took his own life. Still at this time, six al Qaeda fighters still holed up inside that hospital. They say they have food and they have weapons, and they are not about to give up. Again, that standoff has continued for several weeks now.

As for the bombing, for the first time in about a week, we saw intense U.S. airstrikes carried out in Eastern Afghanistan. In fact, earlier on Tuesday morning when we woke up here in Kandahar, we could hear the U.S. fighter jets streaking in the sky overhead.

On the other end, our CNN crews on the ground along the Afghan- Pakistan border heard the bombs drop. Again, the target according to the Pentagon, al Qaeda and Taliban fighters who may be trying to reassemble and recollect, and may try and fight for another day. They also indicate they have found loads of weapons and ammunition hidden away in tunnels, and inside mountains, and the Pentagon says it is easier to hit these areas from the air, than it is to send ground troops in by land.

On another note, on the Special Forces, we have heard this past weekend that U.S. Special Forces might be pulling out of the Helmand province after the apparent hunt for Mullah Mohammed Omar apparently went dry. The Pentagon also insists that right now, the operation in Tora Bora is winding down, and if that's the case, we have seen a substantial increase of Special Forces here in Kandahar in the past 48 hours alone.

In fact, I talked to one earlier today. I asked him where he had been. He said he had been all over this country, back this morning for the first time in weeks, and all he wanted was a hot shower. Bill Hemmer, CNN, Kandahar, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Well, in the caves of Tora Bora, U.S. Special Forces caught the scent of Osama bin Laden, but apparently that is all they caught -- the scent. Well, now that they are calling off their search of that region, where might they go next? CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr joins us now, hopefully she's got more on that -- hello, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon. Yes, there is a lot to bring you up to date on here. General Tommy Franks, the head of U.S. Central Command which is overseeing the operation is, in fact, now indicating that the search of those caves in Tora Bora is just about wrapped up. They found everything they expect to find, and they'll be moving on.

And where they appear to be moving on to is Eastern Afghanistan. As Bill Hemmer said, bombing is continuing in that region, and there have been more airstrikes. F-14's, F-18 fighters off of aircraft carriers have bombed again in the region of the Zawar Kili (ph) terrorist training camp.

There are teams on the ground as well, highly specialized military teams that are continuing to search this region. There working, and they are finding weapons, they are finding bodies of dead al Qaeda fighters, they are finding intelligence, so this team of Marines, Special Forces, explosive ordinance specialists, and even forensic specialists, is continuing to go work through the area.

They have been there for the last several days, and there is every indication they are going stay in the region until they finish their work there.

And even though Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar have not yet been found, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is again reminding everyone that the work is dangerous and it is far from over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There are a number of pockets of al Qaeda terrorists and Taliban fighters that have not been tracked down as yet, to say nothing of the fact that the several of the very senior leaders are still at large, so we have a job to do.

We have to keep working on it. We are taking reasonable steps to provide protection for our forces. They are taking great care, and yet they have a tough, dirty, difficult job to do, and they are hard at it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: And as a reminder of the danger, the body of Sergeant Nathan Chapman, who was killed last week in Afghanistan, is on its way home today to Fort Lewis, Washington. The Pentagon is continuing to investigate the incident in which Sergeant Chapman was killed, and there are continuing growing indications that he and the other Special Forces members he was traveling with walked into a ambush, that they were set up -- Leon.

HARRIS: Barbara, let's talk about the detainees that are now being held there in that region, and in particular, one special one, the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan. What is his fate?

STARR: Well, we have learned earlier this morning, he was on the USS Bataan, a warship in the North Arabian Sea. He has now been transferred to Bagram Air Base in the more northern central region of Afghanistan. The speculation is that he may have been transferred for two reasons. This will facilitate his interrogation, and he may also be amongst the first that will be transferred to Guantanamo Bay, perhaps later this week. That whole project, to move the first of hundreds of detainees to Cuba, is moving very quickly, and we should tell you, General Tommy Franks will be in the Pentagon later today, this afternoon, to brief Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on that whole effort -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks, Barbara. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

In addition to what Barbara told you about General Tommy Franks going to the Pentagon, the Pentagon is going to hold its news briefing next hour. That will be at 1:15 p.m. Eastern, 10:15 a.m. Pacific. At least, that is when it is scheduled. And, of course, when it starts, we'll take you there, live. So make sure you stay with us for that.

A delegation of Senators is in Islamabad, Pakistan today after a quick swing through Afghanistan. The senators met with Pakistan's president on the country's crisis with India, and they came away encouraged. CNN's Tom Mintier joins us now, live from Islamabad. He's got a check of that -- Tom.

TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, the senators will be in Pakistan for about seven more hours. They arrived here very early in the morning from Afghanistan, then got in a car and drove to Turkham (ph), the border crossing with Afghanistan. That is about a five hour drive in each direction.

So, they have spent a lot of time in the airplanes and in cars, but they did have the chance to sit down comfortably late this afternoon with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Now he is going to deliver in the next 24 to 48 hours what is being billed as the speech of his life. A speech that may change the direction for Pakistan. It may east the tensions between Pakistan and India, and open a new chapter on Kashmir.

Now, two of the members of that U.S. senate delegation have a lot of practice with giving speeches, one ran for vice-president, the other ran for president on the Republican ticket. I'm talking about Joseph Lieberman and Senator John McCain. They said much of the discussion with the president was about his upcoming speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: We, of course, went -- talked a great deal about the situation in Kashmir, and we are aware that President Musharraf will make a major speech in the next two or three days which he referred to, and he is appreciative of how important that speech is.

We obviously encouraged him to do whatever he can to renounce terrorism, and to diffuse tensions in the region and the area of Kashmir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MINTIER: Those tensions in the region are being felt not just by the politicians, but by the public as well. Across Pakistan over the last few days, there have been civil defense drills, where the fire department comes out, sets a fire, then puts it out. They have make- believe casualties that are taken to a hospital, not for treatment, but for training. This is all a drill. It have been repeated several times over the last several days, and probably will be in the next few days around the country.

You mentioned General Tommy Franks a little earlier. There was a quote on the Associated Press today that Tommy Franks believes he has Pakistan's permission, if necessary, to pursue al Qaeda or Taliban troops across the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan. I just spoke to General Musharraf's spokesman just a few moments ago, and told him about this.

He says that that is not been agreed to by the Pakistani government, that American troops are not allowed on Pakistan's soil, if indeed there is a need for pursuit of al Qaeda or Taliban, it will be done by the Pakistani military or border guards, where they will capture them, incarcerate them, and if necessary, hand them over. But as far as U.S. troops on Pakistani soil, Pakistan still says that has not been agreed to, and will not be allowed -- Leon.

HARRIS: Tom Mintier, reporting live this evening in Islamabad. Thank you very much, Tom.

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