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CNN Sunday Morning

Afghan Tribal Chiefs Attempt to Extricate Taliban From Kandahar

Aired November 18, 2001 - 07:03   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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Afghan tribal chiefs are trying to come up with a strategy for talking the Taliban out of Kandahar without massive bloodshed. But the Taliban are making political moves to keep their grip on the city.

CNN's Carol Lin is keeping on top of developments from Quetta, Pakistan. She's now live with the latest -- Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Marty.

Well, we saw that the Taliban ambassador, Abdul Salam Zaeef has crossed from Afghanistan into Pakistan and left here from Quetta this morning on route to Islamabad and what he said is that the Taliban is very much in control in Kandahar as well as in several provinces around Kandahar. He also said that Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban spiritual leader, is traveling in Kandahar and through the provinces as well. Although he did say that, he did not know where Osama Bin Laden is actually right now.

Now, he also had a message to the world. He said that America wants to destroy Afghanistan and is asking the world to prevent this, what he calls "cruel action." However, our sources inside of southern Afghanistan as well as here in Pakistan are telling us that the Taliban is losing support, that there are reports of civilians in some of these provinces attempting to disarm Taliban fighters.

We've also learned here in Quetta, where a group of Afghan Pashtun leaders has been meeting, this is the same group that issued a diplomatic ultimatum to the Taliban, that if they did not give up their control of Kandahar that they would mass an army of tribesmen inside of southern Afghanistan to attack the Taliban. What they are saying now at this meeting today is they are working out a military strategy, that they've actually sent several commanders back into southern Afghanistan to start organizing their battle plan. And they are saying that they are bringing arms from Pakistan as well as thousands of soldiers.

They did send another delegation in yesterday to try to convince the Taliban once again to give up its struggle. But so far that delegation has failed -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Carol, has there been any specific talk about a deadline for the Taliban in Kandahar? LIN: Yes, Marty, they told the Taliban that they had a matter of days and that they were -- they were willing to go to battle within a week. So we are talking about a few more days. But a word of caution here -- the sources that we are talking to inside of southern Afghanistan as well as here, are all Pashtun representatives. All of them clearly have a stake in this political process or any potential military action.

We did hear from the Taliban, saying that they are still in control. And we are hearing form these Pashtun leaders that they are losing support. Somewhere in between lies the truth. And what we have yet to see is whether these Pashtun tribal leaders, in fact, can mass the size of army that they say that they have available to them in southern Afghanistan.

SAVIDGE: CNN's Carol Lin reporting to us live this morning from Quetta, Pakistan. Thank you.

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