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American Morning

Where Are Rest of the Al Qaeda and Taliban?

Aired February 05, 2002 - 09:03   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: "Up Front" this morning, Guantanamo is open for business again and transfer flights could resume soon. The United States is holding only a relative number of detainees in Cuba and in Afghanistan, but there are thousands of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, but where are the rest them? More specifically their top leaders, beginning with Osama bin Laden.

Here's CNN international correspondent Sheila MacVicar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mountain fortress of Tora Bora have proved empty. The U.S. administration has now had to acknowledge that the leadership of Al Qaeda has escaped American surveillance and slipped away.

ABDUL BARI AL ATWAN, EDITOR, "AL QUDS": Until now, we don't know the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. We don't know what happened to Ayman Al-Zawahri, the military brain behind Al Qaeda. We don't know what happened -- even the families of Osama bin Laden and others. Until now, nobody of those people where caught.

MACVICAR: After weeks of bombardment and targeted airstrikes, only one senior Al Qaeda leader is confirmed dead -- Osama bin Laden's military chief Mohamed Attaf, killed near Kabul in November. At Guantanamo, only one senior Al Qaeda figure is in custody, the man who ran some of the training camps in Afghanistan.

Intelligence sources tell CNN that at least some of Al Qaeda's leaders are confirmed to have crossed over the borders of Afghanistan. Some into Pakistan. Few north into Tajikistan, toward Chechnya, and still others westwards to Iran, seeking sanctuary in geographic blindspots.

No place is more sensitive than Iran, and since mid-January, the U.S. administration has publicly accused Tehran of harboring Al Qaeda leaders.

CNN has learned their is conflicting intelligence about the whereabouts of Al Qaeda's operations chief Abu Zabeda (ph). Terrorism experts believe he is now the military commander. Some intelligence reports put Abu Zabeda and his deputy in Tehran. However, U.S. officials say Abu Zabeda is not in Iran, but in a different country, which they decline to name.

(on camera): Iran is known to have arrested and to be holding in custody about a dozen Al Qaeda members wanted for questioning by the United States. Iran has refused to hand them over, saying they will instead be returned to their home countries Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Yemen.

MACVICAR: When U.S. relations with Iran seemed to have been thrust back into deep freeze, analysts say President Bush may have closed the door to further cooperation with those factions in Iran, which had been helpful to the U.S., creating another geographic blind spot.

Sheila MacVicar, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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