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CNN Sunday Morning

Chaos and Death Among Taliban Fighters

Aired November 18, 2001 - 10:08   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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Chaos and death among Taliban fighters. Sources inside Konduz tell CNN, hard-line Taliban troops have been killing local Taliban members who wanted to surrender. Others committed suicide by drowning or fatally shooting themselves. For some of these fighters, becoming a captive of the opposition is worse than death.

CNN's Matthew Chance has more on hundreds of war prisoners that are being held since the fall of Kabul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Captives in a Kabul prison, suspected Taliban and al Qaeda members are pinned (ph) by the Northern Alliance and lined up for us. These are just some of the hundreds of prisoners of war, Afghan officials say are foreign fighters, arrested since the fall of Kabul.

Zabin (ph) told me he came to Afghanistan from Saudi Arabia to train in weapons with an organization linked, he said, to Osama bin Laden. He was shot and captured on the frontlines, north of the Afghan capital. Thousands of Arabs and other nationals are still fighting alongside the Taliban. These miserable few expect little mercy.

Behind the steel doors of the next cell, a line of suspected Pakistani volunteers for the Taliban. The prisoner guards told us they'll be interrogated for information on fellow fighters. What we heard, though, were denials and pleas of innocence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We came from...

CHANCE: Abdul Hani (ph) told me he was in Kabul, not as a fighter, but as tourist visiting friends when he was arrested.

(on camera): Are you a member of the Taliban?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't know about this. We came from Kabul to enjoy here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But we are not...

CHANCE (voice-over): Denials too from Mohammed Isra (ph). He is a trader he says, Pakistani, but no supporter of the Taliban. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not related with Taliban people. I am friend.

CHANCE: What about rest of these people?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know about these people because I have come just 15 minutes before.

CHANCE: True or not, these men are regarded as enemies by those now in charge.

(on camera): Officials responsible for this jail say they haven't decided yet what to do with their prisoners of war. Although they say at least, they will be treated fairly. Still, there is mounting concern over the large numbers of captives held in Kabul under lock and key but mostly unseen.

(voice-over): In the back streets of the capital, one Northern Alliance commander took me to his own holding facility. A shipping container insulated with mud and holes cut in the sides for air. Peering out a face full of desperation. Zahir (ph) told me he is an Afghan from Kandahar. "I want to get out of here," he says, "The Taliban only used me as a driver. I needed to work to feed my family."

Far more prisoners are being held by the Northern Alliance than have been seen by us. And it's far from clear how much mercy they deserve or can expect.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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