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CNN Saturday Morning News

Pentagon Denies Reports of Capture of American Special Forces Team in Afghanistan

Aired September 29, 2001 - 10:11   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.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A report that American commandos have been captured inside Afghanistan gets a wave- off at the Pentagon. CNN's Mark Potter joins us now, live from there, with the latest.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, John. Yes, there is wave off from the Pentagon. Also, a denial from the Taliban. But this is a story that erupted overnight, and it emanated from Al Jazeera TV network in Qatar, a reporter there, saying that three members, according to his source inside Afghanistan, three members of the U.S. special forces, along with two Afghans with U.S. citizenship, were captured inside of Afghanistan. Either by Taliban forces or al Qaeda fighters.

The five were supposedly on a reconnaissance mission. According to some detail offered in this report, they were carrying specialized weapons. They also had maps showing al Qaeda terrorist camps and they were allegedly captured and are still being held and the captors are saying that they will release pictures of the people that they have -- that they are still holding.

Now, a few hours later the Taliban government issued a categoric denial, saying that it did not happen. And here at the Pentagon, a very serious wave off too. They are using the words no credence. No reason to believe this. They are not offering an actual denial and they explained that by saying that they don't want to get in the business of having to confirm or deny every report or rumor that comes from the area.

They're dancing around the wording a little bit, not giving an actual denial, but saying, in essence, that there is no credence and they are giving us a wave off on the story.

So, that's where it stands right now. Now, the reason that perhaps the story took off a little bit overnight and did end up on some Internet sites is that there is reporting that the U.S. special forces, as well as British special forces units, small units, have been doing surveillance work in and out of the Afghanistan.

John, back to you.

KING: CNN's Mark Potter standing by this morning at the Pentagon. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com