Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

U.S. State Department Increasingly Alarmed by Iran's Activities in Afghanistan

Aired February 20, 2002 - 09:08   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.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: When President Bush included Iran in that short list of countries he viewed as an axis of evil, a lot of countries, including America's allies, were caught off-guard by the remarks. Prior to that, Iran's relationship with the west was actually on a warming trend.

At the start of the war in Afghanistan, Iran had offered the United States forces logistical assistance as they mounted the campaign there. But that has all changed apparently, and not for the better. And now the U.S. State Department is increasingly alarmed by Iran's activities in Afghanistan, which they describe as "troublesome" and "meddlesome."

CNN national security correspondent David Ensor joins us now from Washington to tell us more.

What specifically is Iran doing that's got the State Department concerned, David.

Good morning, by the way.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Jack.

Well, it was several months ago when U.S. intelligence officers first began to tell me that their representative CIA people on the ground in Afghanistan have begun to notice that the competition was there, too, particularly in the west of Afghanistan, around the city of Herat and Mazar-e Sharif.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard representatives, representatives of the Intelligence Service of Iran were moving into Afghanistan, bringing with them gifts, bringing arms, and money and trying to buy favor and buy friends among the Afghan warlords in that region.

Now this, of course, is a Farsi-speaking area. They speak the same language as Iran, and there are many families that are on both sides of the border. So it's a very easy area for Iranian intelligence officers to operate. And U.S. officials say they are doing so some danger to the Karzai -- to the government of Hamid Karzai, indications that the Iranians may wish to keep the situation fluid, unstable, may wish to keep the warlords that are friendly to them stronger, rather than weaker -- Jack. CAFFERTY: Interesting stuff.

There's another story in "The Washington Times" that I wanted to ask you about. It concerns that Predator attack on February the 4th, the unmanned drone that fired that Hellfire missile. The "Times" says that the CIA in investigating that attack has determined that one of the targets -- and this is a quote here -- was over six feet tall and wearing Arab garb, suggesting of course that it might have been one of the prime Al Qaeda, as in perhaps Osama bin Laden.

What are you hearing from your sources in Washington about that story?

ENSOR: They are puzzled by that story. The officials I speak to say, first of all, the man that's being talked about, the taller individual among the group that were killed by that Predator attack, was not wearing Arab garb. There were others in the group who were. They say that they did not do any kind of measurement, had no way to do an accurate measurement to say how tall the man was.

Nonetheless, there are standing by their story that they believe at least one of the individuals killed in that Predator attack February 4th was -- did have Al Qaeda connections. They note that the Predator was watching these men for three or four hours before the strike was ordered. The account by local villagers that has been around in various newspapers, that these were men looking for scrap metal, desperate villagers trying to look for way to feed their family. These officials say that just doesn't wash, that none of these men were picking up scrap metal, but there is evidence from other sources that they -- at least one of them had an Al Qaeda connection, so this thing gets just even murkier, Jack.

CAFFERTY: More to come in doubt, too.

Thank you, David, very much. Good to have you with us. David Ensor, CNN's national security correspondent, reporting from Washington.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com