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CNN Sunday Morning

Northern Alliance Takes Khanabad

Aired November 25, 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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Now let's get the details on the rapidly developing situation in Afghanistan. CNN's Satinder Bindra is just outside of Konduz. He joins us from the outskirts of this pivotal battleground there in northern Afghanistan -- Satinder.

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Catherine.

A very fluid situation here, as Northern Alliance soldiers continue to advance towards Konduz. They're advancing towards Konduz with T-55 battle tanks. They've also got armored personnel carriers, and there's thousands of troops.

I can confirm now that Northern Alliance forces have entered and taken the city of Khanabad, which is 10 miles east of Konduz. Our producer, Ryan Chilcote, and cameramen have just returned from the town of Khanabad, and they brought back some of the first pictures from Khanabad.

I'm just going to talk to Ryan now.

Ryan, did the Northern Alliance forces encounter any resistance in Khanabad as they entered the city?

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN PRODUCER: At first, they -- it was almost as if they were streaming. We were traveling with, we estimate, around 1,000 Northern Alliance troops into Khanabad. And at first there didn't seem to be any resistance at all.

They were telling us that the Taliban soldiers in that area had retreated. But just about two kilometers east of Khanabad, we did stumble upon a gun battle. All of a sudden, the Northern Alliance troops in their pickup trucks stopped, assumed positions, and a gun battle that involved machine gun fire and mortar fire ensued.

However, that ended about a half hour later. And the Northern Alliance troops moved on from there into the village of Khanabad.

BINDRA: Who was firing at the Northern Alliance forces? Could you tell -- were these non-Afghan fighters or Afghan fighters?

CHILCOTE: They said they were -- well, quote, they said they were terrorists and they also said they were al Qaeda fighters.

That might be confirmed by the fact that when we went into the village of Khanabad, that had been -- that the Northern Alliance had entered just an hour before that, the locals there in the village told us that just an hour before, where we were standing, there had been hundreds of what they said non-Afghan or foreign fighters. They said they were Pakistanis.

BINDRA: Now, what are Northern Alliance forces doing in the town of Khanabad at the moment?

CHILCOTE: Well, they seem to be sort of running around trying to secure the area. Many of them have gone beyond Khanabad. I mean, it's -- in the direction of Konduz. It's almost as if there's a race to Konduz, and they're not so concerned about the territory that they've already taken. So they're -- but they are going from house to house, trying to secure the area. We saw that. We saw them searching one house.

BINDRA: What happens now in terms of entering Konduz? Do you think, given what you've seen today, they could encounter -- Northern Alliance forces could encounter severe resistance there, or is it going to be just like Khanabad?

CHILCOTE: Well, we don't know. I would assume there would be more resistance. We do know that the road from Khanabad to Konduz -- it's about a 20 minute drive -- that there were gun battles underway there as we left. That was one of the reasons why we left. So it's entirely possible that there might be more resistance in Konduz.

The locals in the village of Khanabad told us they saw a couple of hundred foreign or non-Afghan, if you will, fighters -- Pakistani fighters, fleeing that village in the direction of Konduz. It's anyone's guess where those fighters have gone.

BINDRA: Well, thanks so much Ryan.

That is the situation here. We can confirm, once again, that Northern Alliance forces have taken the town of Khanabad.

Back to you Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Satinder, just a couple of questions for you and for Ryan. First, where are the non-Afghans, the mercenaries, if you will, the Taliban soldiers who have surrendered? Where are they being held, and are they being held in a different place as (sic) the Afghan Taliban soldiers?

BINDRA: Catherine, most of the fighters who surrendered here are Afghan fighters. These Afghan fighters have been taken to the nearby town of Taloqan, where they are being disarmed. Now, we've seen very little of non-Afghan fighters, as I've said, surrender here.

But this morning, Northern Alliance commanders have been telling us that if they do surrender, their weapons will be taken away from them and they'll be sent to Mazar-e Sharif. Once they're there, Northern Alliance sources are now telling us they'll be handed over to the United Nations -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: All right, Satinder Bindra. And I also want to thank CNN's Ryan Chilcote for his report. Thank you both -- Marty.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: The Taliban's apparent collapse in Konduz raises the obvious question: What comes next?

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in the Afghan capital city of Kabul with more on that -- Ben.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The upcoming Afghan meeting in Bonn, Germany, scheduled for next Tuesday, will include four different groups. According to Burhanuddin Rabbani, the head of the Northern Alliance, the alliance will be represented there, what's being called the Rome Group, which represents the former King of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah, who was deposed in 1973.

Also there will be a group representing the millions of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, as well as another group representing the wider Afghan diaspora. All in all, 21 members will take part in these talks in Germany, where they will decide upon the formation of an executive council.

That executive council is scheduled to return at some point to Afghanistan, where they will go before what's called a Loya Jirga, a grand meeting of Afghan elders and leaders. They will, in theory, approve that executive council which will form the basis for a national unity government.

Burhanuddin Rabbani also discussed the fate of the Taliban prisoners, both Afghan and non-Afghan. He said as far as the non- Afghan fighters, which includes Arabs, Chechens and Pakistanis, he's going to leave it up to the U.N. to decide their fate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BURHANUDDIN RABBANI, AFGHAN PRESIDENT (through translator): As for Arabs, Pakistanis and other fighters, we would like to find a solution, despite the fact that they were fighting against us. We have nothing to do with them. We forgive them. We would like to hand them over to the United Nations, and it will be up to the United Nations whether to return them to their countries or do whatever they want to do with them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WEDEMAN: Regarding the Afghan Taliban, Burhanuddin Rabbani said that there will be a blanket amnesty for all Afghan fighters.

I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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