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American Morning

Insights On The Success of The Military Operations in Afghanistan

Aired January 09, 2002 - 09:11   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: As you know, they went cave-to-cave, searching for Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar in Afghanistan, but have come up empty so far. Now, after several weeks of combing the countryside, the Pentagon says U.S. troops are moving on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. JOHN STUFFLEBEAM, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: We are going to stop chasing, if you will, the shadows, of where we thought he was, and focus more on, you know, the entire picture of the country. Where the -- where these pockets of resistance are. What do the anti- Taliban forces need so that we can develop a better intelligence picture?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: So, is the U.S. military, in effect, giving up the search for their two main targets in the war on terrorism?

Joining me now, with his insights, Former Secretary of State, Dr. Henry Kissinger. As always, good to see you.

DR. HENRY KISSINGER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Good to be here.

ZAHN: We should name the name of your consulting firm too. Is it McLarty and Kissinger, Associates? I always mess that up. Or Kissinger and McLarty?

KISSINGER: Kissinger, McLarty.

ZAHN: Let's talk a little bit about what Admiral Stufflebeem just had to say. Why give up on the search for Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar? Or is that essentially...

KISSINGER: No, no. I don't think we've given up the search for Osama bin Laden. I think the military combat units have given up or may have given have up the search for bin Laden, but I think all our intelligence apparatus is looking for him, and I believe we've overemphasized the Osama bin Laden personality.

Six months ago he was running a network, he had training camps. Now he's a fugitive, he's in hiding. He can't have much of a network. He can't have any training camps. And he's spending all his time surviving. We've achieved, fundamentally, what we set out to do, which is to break up his network. And I think it's too dramatic to focus on him now. Omar, actually didn't do anything about running terrorism networks. He just made space for Osama in Afghanistan. Which is something for which he should be punished.

ZAHN: But are you telling, this morning, that you believe this campaign so far, can also stop the activities of the so-called sleeper cells, that are out there...

KISSINGER: No. No.

ZAHN: ...in abundance in the United States and other countries.

KISSINGER: No. No. But I think if you have a combination of pressure on Osama, and pressure on sleeper cells in general, you can clear the situation in which they have to spend most of their time in just staying alive. And that will not prevent all acts of terrorism, but it will make it much harder for them to plan the sort of coordinated attack that took place on 9-11. And in over a period of time, it will reduce the frequency of these -- of these attacks. So I think we've achieved, practically everything we set out to do.

ZAHN: In spite of what you are saying, I don't know whether you it saw or not, but there was a pretty tough piece in the "Economist," suggesting that the reason why the U.S. did not so-called, "get Osama bin Laden" was the fact that our strategy allowed for a lot of the power to be turned over to the Afghan warlords. And that's why that part of the campaign was not effective.

KISSINGER: Well, the limited part of Osama bin Laden, which has always been overdone, was not effective, was perhaps not as effective as it might have been. We have a general problem, in that the reluctance to risk casualties is becoming so pronounced in the American military that some opportunities, may be lost. But we should not talk down what has to been achieved.

Within a period of three months after the terrorist attack on the United States, we've broken up the headquarters of it. And we've overthrown the government that made it possible. Now, that's only a first step. But I -- it's -- I can't imagine that much more could have been achieved. It would nice to have Osama, but I think sooner or later we'll catch him.

ZAHN: We talk about this being a first step and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz hinted, yesterday, in and interview with "The New York Times," what the second step might be.

Let's listen to this together, when he talks about the prospect of other targets.

Mr. Wolfowitz, where are you?

Essentially what he says is Somalia, and I don't want to -- I don't want to obviously, because...

KISSINGER: Yeah, I've read the interview.

ZAHN: The exact quote is, "Obviously, Somalia comes up as a possible candidate for al Qaeda people to flee to, precisely because the government is weak or nonexistent." Is Somalia next?

KISSINGER: I would assume, that if al Qaeda people flee anywhere, we will pursue them. And so if they fly -- they flee to Somalia, they will probably be pursued. It's a different situation from Afghanistan, because Somalia really doesn't have a government. So -- there isn't a government to attack. We could go -- we would go directly after the fugitives. If they go to Somalia. What we will not, I think, permit, is the creation of a network of training camps, headquarters, communication systems, anywhere where we can reach. And Somalia is certainly a place we could reach.

ZAHN: Dr. Kissinger good to see you again in the new year.

KISSINGER: Pleasure to be here.

ZAHN: Do you like our new digs here? Is it pretty comfortable here in new setting?

KISSINGER: Oh, very nice.

ZAHN: Good.

KISSINGER: Very comfortable.

ZAHN: Good. We hope this will be the lure to get you to come back more often, as always.

KISSINGER: Always a pleasure to be here.

ZAHN: Good to have you with us. Thank you, sir

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