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CNN Sunday Morning

U.S. Military's Primary Targets Remain at Large

Aired January 06, 2002 - 08:04   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the war on terrorism. The former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan is now in the hands of the U.S. military, but the military's primary targets remain on the run.

CNN's Bill Hemmer is with the U.S. Marines in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He joins us again with the latest this morning.

Hi Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Kyra, good evening from Kandahar once again.

Let's first talk about the latest Marine mission that we picked up on here at the airport last night. It was late on Saturday that we saw an awful lot of activity floating around the airstrip out here. And what we eventually saw were at least a dozen Marine helicopters: the Cobras and the Super Stallion and the Sea Nights load up with Marines and take off. In what direction, we're not sure. And what they were looking for, we haven't been told that yet either. But we know they did not go far, because they were not gone but a few hours here last evening.

We talked with the Marines today. They've been especially tight- lipped about this operation. Probably for pretty good reasons here. We're led to believe that possibly the targets aimed last night may be hit again in the near future, and it's also possible that other targets around the area may be struck as well. Again, they're looking for intelligence, anything they can gather on al Qaeda and Taliban leaders throughout southern Afghanistan.

Again, they don't want to tip off anybody in the region. And other Marines insist to CNN that there ongoing missions just about all of the time out here, as the U.S. Marines, again, continue to make their stake here going back to late November on the ground here in southern Afghanistan. A lot of Pakistan has been quite remarkable from so many different perspectives, especially if you talk to the military members here at the airport in Kandahar. The cooperation of -- between Islamabad and Washington has been phenomenal in many senses.

And I'll give you a case in point. Two of them, in fact, that we came across this weekend. Yesterday, Abdul Salam Zaeef, he's the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, he was seeking asylum in Islamabad, the Pakistanis turned him down. Then yesterday they turned him back over to U.S. authorities here in Afghanistan. Zaeef was the face and voice of the Taliban. We saw him in so many press briefings during the early days of the war. Later, he went into hiding.

But at this point, we are told he is in U.S. custody being held on board the USS Bataan in the Arabian Sea. In addition to Zaeef there on the Bataan, you have eight other detainees, including the 20- year-old American, John Walker.

Also, it should be pointed out, in the past week we have seen scores of detainees come in from Pakistan, forwarded here to Kandahar. Right now we're standing at 300 detainees on hand. Twenty-five more brought in last night, all from Pakistan.

This goes in connection with a high-profile al Qaeda member, a man by the name of Ibn Al-Shaykh al-Libi. He is in custody here as well. He's the guy the U.S. accused of running the terrorist camps throughout Afghanistan. We are under the understanding that Pakistan, once again, helped in his apprehension as well. Again, 300 here for the moment here, Kyra. They expect to get the 500, the Marines say, some time very soon -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Our Bill Hemmer live in Kandahar. Thank you so much -- Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn from reporting in the field to an analysis of the war on terrorism. Joining us now from Washington is CNN military analyst, Major General Don Shepperd. Good morning to you, general.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, Martin.

SAVIDGE: Let's talk about the Taliban ambassador now apparently in U.S. custody. A couple of questions. As far as I know, he is the highest ranking member of the Taliban that we do have in custody. He's out on a ship in the Arabian Sea. Is there any question of diplomatic immunity here when you go to question him? I mean, he was a representative of the government in the diplomatic community.

SHEPPERD: Well, you have to be very careful about the diplomatic aspects of this. You obviously cannot detain the diplomat or the ambassador from another country that is recognized, or you set off a series of incidents all over the worlds, where diplomats are simply not safe. On the other hand, Pakistan had broken relations with the Taliban regime, and yet this person chose to still be in Pakistan.

From everything I know legally, that makes him fair game as far as being detained. I'm sure all of those questions were -- were answered to the satisfaction of -- of our legal system before we detained him, before we accepted him on the Bataan. But the Bataan's a good place for him right now, Martin.

SAVIDGE: And do we really believe that he might have information regarding the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar given the fact he was out of the country and in Pakistan? SHEPPERD: Yes, clearly he has a lot of knowledge about the entire al Qaeda and Taliban relationship. And, clearly, he knows a lot about the finances, about the hiding places, about where he met with both Mullah Omar and bin Laden over the -- over the years that the Taliban developed and were operating within the country. So he has a lot of knowledge.

Of course, I doubt very seriously if he knows where they are today. Undoubtedly, they've moved from the last time. But he's got a lot of things that we want, and we're going to put a lot of pressure on him to give it to us.

SAVIDGE: It also seems to be implied that depending on where you are held, it gives credence to what sort of significance. And what I mean by that is, if you're on shore, you're probably not as highly regarded as those who are being held out on the Bataan, where it seems, though, some of the significant people are. What is the advantage of putting a person on a ship, and what can be conducted there you can't do on shore?

SHEPPERD: Well, it's a long swim to get him is -- is the real answer there. In other words, that's the most secure place, is on a United States' ship in the middle of the Arabian Sea. Nobody's going to get to him; whereas, always in Kandahar or places like that, and other prisons spread across Afghanistan, you have the possibility of prisoners breaking out. You have the possibilities of people trying to break them out from the outside as they regroup around the country. So the ship is probably the most secure place of all.

SAVIDGE: On another front, Tora Bora, we talk about now seven, I believe, eight cave military complexes being searched. At one time, we said there were hundreds of caves up there. Now we have it down to eight?

SHEPPERD: Well, it's actually thousands of caves, not hundreds. And the caves that we are talking about, the complexes that we're talking about are major military complexes underground, of which there are -- have been identified as eight. Now, we knew a lot about them because some of them we built with the help of the CIA during the Soviet occupation, as we were helping -- creating and helping the mujahadeen.

So we've been in those complexes, and they are the big ones that have big storage areas, big ammunition storage, even rooms for tanks and hundreds of troops. Those are the ones we're after. The other minor caves are, of course, places that people can hide and hide minor portions of ammunition. But we're interested in the big ones, and we've got the seven out of eight right now.

SAVIDGE: And lastly, the ground and air campaign in Afghanistan has been highly successful. But when you look at the number for people from, say, the top 20 most wanted list, there are only about three or four actually in custody.

SHEPPERD: Yes, actually that's pretty good if you look at law enforcement worldwide. We've got the top 10 most wanted list and people remain on those lists for years and years. So if we have four out of the top 20 and, undoubtedly, others have been killed, some of them probably in the caves in Tora Bora that we're after, that's really a pretty good record. On the other hand, many of these people have obviously escaped to Pakistan and perhaps other areas. Including, perhaps, Mullah Omar and bin Laden himself.

We're going to be on the chase for these people for a long, long time. And that's why the secretary and president have said this is going to be a long, wide and deep war in many places. Some you'll see, some you won't.

SAVIDGE: Which is something that they have envisioned from the very beginning.

SHEPPERD: Indeed.

SAVIDGE: General Shepperd, thank you very much for joining us this morning.

SHEPPERD: A pleasure.

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