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CNN Saturday Morning News

Military Action Damages Sites Near Kandahar

Aired October 20, 2001 - 09:07   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 Pakistan. CNN's Christiane Amanpour is monitoring developments in the U.S. military action in Afghanistan. She joins us live from Islamabad with an update.

Hi, Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, good evening from here in Islamabad.

We have just had another update from our people in Kandahar, who say that today, after last night's fierce bombardment, they were taken by Taliban to damaged sites. They said they saw two bridges had been collapsed, and they also say they saw a mosque that had been slightly damaged, they were told, by accident in the crossfire in yesterday night's military activities.

What we were told last night from our sources there, and also we've seen pictures from Al Jazeera, is that there was a heavy bombardment overnight. There was action by at least two AC-103s they say they had seen there. There was a pounding of targets on the outskirts of Kabul, they tell us. They also said that when dawn broke, they had -- when they talked to residents in various parts of the town, especially the outskirts, they said that they had seen helicopters and dismounted forces there.

Those are the military details, and these are now causing the U.N. and other aid workers in this region to be increasingly worried. They say that their ability to operate with local staff inside Afghanistan is being severely degraded, not just by the military campaign, but most especially, they say, by a breakdown in law and order, what they called armed elements going into warehouses and offices, looting, taking things.

One land mine operation in Kabul has reported 80 vehicles stolen just recently. The Taliban has taken over some offices, and in any event, the total message that we were getting today is that it is increasingly difficult to give humanitarian assistance to what they called 6 million people inside Afghanistan who face a frightening future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO DONINI, U.N. HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR: The many people deeper inside Afghanistan simply cannot get out. They are trapped where they are. They are the most vulnerable people, those who face the greatest risks under the present circumstances. They are suffering from hunger, but they are also suffering from fear and from exposure. In some cases, they are in areas where there is a breakdown of law and order.

On Wednesday again, armed elements broke into a U.N. office in Kabul, beat up the guards, and drove away with three vehicles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: Now, on the diplomatic front here, there has been a meeting today by the Taliban ambassador and Pakistani foreign ministry officials. But contrary to speculation and rumor, there has been no new peace plan, no new cease-fire plan, none of what people had speculated that the Taliban ambassador might say to foreign ministry officials. In fact, he said that they stuck to their position, that they would have no change in their position, and that the war would only end when the U.S. decided to stop bombing.

That is the latest on the diplomatic front.

Just one last note, there was a security scare here in Islamabad when a suspicious package was found to be an explosive and was then blown up in a special bunker. There were no casualties. Had it blown up in the crowded area in which it was found, we are told, it would have caused casualties and perhaps even deaths. We have no idea on who planted that explosive device.

Back to you.

PHILLIPS: Christiane, the Taliban is saying that it is ready for a ground war. Do you believe that as U.S. air strikes continue to disrupt and degrade military capabilities of the Taliban, that it can handle guerrilla warfare right now?

AMANPOUR: Well, this is what we've been briefed on over the last day or so. Let me tell you what we've been told by eyewitnesses inside Kabul who have come out, whose job it is -- they work for an aid agency -- to try to get as much information as they possibly can on the ground.

They say they were detecting certain and very intense panic and fear at the beginning of this air campaign amongst the Taliban. Then the Taliban realized that this was not indiscriminate bombing, and they started to gather in the cities, hide their most significant military assets, we were told. And they said that they were -- they were feeling quite well and their morale was high.

What they also claimed was that if the U.S. came in on the ground, then they would be able to fight a war on their terms, a guerrilla war, as they have done in the past.

But what appears to be happening is that this war is not being fought on their terms. First of all, there's an overwhelming air campaign, and secondly, so far any ground operations have been hit and run, if you like. The United States forces, we're told, have gone and have come out. This is not what the local Mujahideen fighters have been used to. They are used to being able to conduct a guerrilla campaign against entrenched occupying forces.

So so far, it's not being fought on their terrain and on their terms, and despite what we're being told, that they feel that they can win a guerrilla war, it has not come to that, and may not.

PHILLIPS: Christiane Amanpour, live in Islamabad, thank you.

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