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CNN Sunday Morning

Rumsfeld to Meet With Pakistani President

Aired November 04, 2001 - 08:01   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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: From Uzbekistan Rumsfeld will travel to Islamabad, Pakistan, where he'll review the military campaign. U.S.-led warplanes bombed parts of Northeastern Afghanistan again today. Dozens of bombs landed on suspected Taliban positions on the ridge along the front lines facing Northern Alliance forces. Today's attacks went on for about seven hours. Pakistani officials tell CNN that Secretary Rumsfeld's meetings with them will touch on several aspects of the war on terrorism.

CNN's Kathleen Koch joins us live from the Pentagon this morning with more on Rumsfeld's Asian trip.

Good morning to you, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Martin.

Secretary Rumsfeld has been very busy crisscrossing the Central Asian region, focusing especially on countries that share borders with Afghanistan, be they long or short borders. The secretary landed in Islamabad, Pakistan just a short while ago. And while there, Rumsfeld will be speaking with President Pervez Musharraf, urging his support in the continuing campaign in Afghanistan, and also to avoid confrontation with India over the embattled region of Kashmir.

Now there you see the secretary at an earlier stop in Uzbekistan, where he said he had a helpful and informative talk with President Islam Karimov. Uzbekistan has opened its airspace to U.S. planes, and has also given forces use of Khanabad Air Base in Southern Uzbekistan for humanitarian and search-and-rescue missions. And the secretary of defense says those efforts are all important in the U.S. campaign that is moving forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The effort to deal with the problem of terrorist networks is proceeding. It is, we believe, proceeding at a pace that is showing measurable progress. And we certainly appreciate the cooperation that the government of Uzbekistan have provided with respect to the effort against terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: More details are out now on the crash of a U.S. helicopter in Northern Afghanistan on Friday. The helicopter was part of a two- chopper team that was sent in to retrieve a U.S. serviceman. Now, CNN is told by a source that serviceman was ill with a previous illness and needed more treatment because he was not responding to the medication that he was taking.

Now the one chopper crashed, the Pentagon says, in bad weather, and then four people on that helicopter were injured -- not seriously. They were picked up by the second chopper, flown out. And then on Saturday, finally, a second team of helicopters came in and they were able to swoop in and retrieve the serviceman.

We don't know anything right now about his condition. And as far as the first helicopter, U.S. F-14s were sent in to destroy it to prevent it from falling into Taliban hands -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Kathleen, this intensive occasion of fighting and bombing on the Northern Alliance area up there in Northern Afghanistan comes at an interesting time: shortly before Ramadan begins and, obviously, before the onset of winter. Is the Pentagon indicating whether this is a new strategy, focusing on these front-line forces of the Taliban?

KOCH: The Pentagon has said, yes, indeed, last week that this is a shift in focus; a shift toward the Taliban troops on the front line in these regions where they are facing off against the Northern Alliance. This is the sort of turn that the Northern Alliance had been pushing for in its efforts to take Mazar-e Sharif, a city that it controlled up until 1998, when it was taken by the Taliban.

Also important, the Northern Alliance believes is to cut the supply line between Mazar-e Sharif and Kabul. So this is a shift, and obviously something that the Northern Alliance wants to see happen, say, before the serious bad weather -- the winter weather sets in very soon -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: All right. Kathleen Koch reporting to us live from the Pentagon this morning. Thank you.

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