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CNN Sunday Morning

President Bush Monitors Developments in Afghanistan From Camp David

Aired November 25, 2001 - 10:13   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: Well, President Bush is, of course, monitoring developments in Afghanistan from the presidential retreat in Maryland. And CNN White House correspondent Kelly Wallace joining us now, live, from near Camp David with the very latest. Good morning to you.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Catherine.

Well, yes, President Bush and, of course, other White House officials definitely watching this situation on the ground in Afghanistan very closely. U.S. officials have hailed the surrender of hundreds and hundreds of Taliban soldiers as a positive development. But they have also been saying that U.S. forces in Afghanistan still have a lot of work ahead.

And now there's a great deal of attention about what should happen to those soldiers who have decided to put down their arms and surrender. As we heard from Alessio, you have some Afghan fighters; you also have some foreign fighters: Arabs, Chechens and Pakistanis.

Now Ambassador Kenton Keith, who is a former ambassador to Qatar and is now helping the administration in the so-called information war, serving as a spokesman in a U.S. office in Islamabad, Pakistan, appeared in an interview program earlier on his stay and he talked first about what, he believes, will happen to those Afghan Taliban fighters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENTON KEITH, COALITION SPOKESMAN: On a case-by-case basis, they will be released and allowed to go home. Of course, there probably are some Taliban of the Afghan background, who will be retained for interrogation and so on. But for the most part, most of the Afghan Taliban will probably just go home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Again the ambassador saying, of course, some could be questioned, believing they might contain important intelligence information about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda operative. Now, there is also the question of those foreign fighters: the Arabs, the Chechens and the Pakistanis. Now, the ambassador is saying he believes that they would be tried in Afghanistan. Although he could not offer any more details, we have heard very directly from the administration, in particular from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld earlier in the week. He said very, very clearly he does not believe that those foreign fighters should be able to flee Afghanistan, and in the secretary's words -- quote -- "bring terror to other countries."

Now, as from Mr. Bush, he is enjoying a little more downtime at the Presidential retreat. He is expected to attend church services and then enjoy a brunch with his wife, the First Lady; and his twin daughters, we believe, are still at the presidential retreat. They, in fact, are celebrating there 20th birthday on this day.

And then, Catherine, the president heading back to the White House for a busy week ahead: More meetings with world leaders, including the leaders of Yemen and Spain and then, the president to push Congress to finish up work on an economic stimulus package. Back to you, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Kelly, other things are just getting going, but what I want to ask you if you've heard anything from the administration concerning the U.S. news and world report out this morning that a U.S. laboratory has successfully cloned the first human embryo. Any word from the administration on that yet?

WALLACE: No word at all. Talked to one administration official, who learned it from us as we were telling her about it, so again, no reaction just yet. Likely, of course, to get some criticism, no doubt, from this.

CALLAWAY: Yes.

WALLACE: Administration has made its position very clear on this front. But no official reaction just yet, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: And in a day, we'll be hearing from them. CNN, Kelly Wallace, thank you.

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