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CNN Saturday Morning News
Taliban Soldiers Surrender Near Mazar-e Sharif
Aired November 24, 2001 - 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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: We've been telling you this morning about the surrenders going on in Konduz. Well, 30 miles to the west at Mazar-e Sharif, hundreds more Taliban fighters have surrendered. The prisoners are being processed there.
And CNN's Alessio Vinci is near Mazar-e Sharif and he has more.
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Catherine.
Actually, we have just returned back in downtown Mazar-e Sharif, where just a few minutes ago we have witnessed some of the prisoners of war, some of those Taliban fighters who have surrendered themselves to the Northern Alliance forces to be searched and stripped of all their belongings. However, as some of the prisoners of war were being processed, one of them had a hand grenade in his hand and detonated the hand grenade, killing himself and two other believed to be Pakistani fighters, and also injuring a nearby Northern Alliance commander.
This incident happened as the Northern Alliance fighters had brought the, some 400 Taliban fighters who had surrendered themselves just a few hours earlier in the desert about 30 miles outside of Mazar-e Sharif. Northern Alliance commanders are telling us that the majority of those who have surrendered this morning here near Mazar-e Sharif are the so-called foreign fighters, the Pakistanis and the Chechens and the Arabs who have fought for the Taliban against the Northern Alliance and the U.S. troops.
Again, just a few minutes ago, as these, some of these Taliban forces had surrendered themselves and were being processed into a processing center here in Mazar-e Sharif, one of them pulled a hand grenade and blew himself up, killing himself, two other soldiers and wounding, seriously wounding one Northern Alliance commander -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Alessio, up until that time, had the surrender been going as peacefully as it could have gone?
VINCI: Absolutely, Catherine. We had actually followed the convoy of the prisoners throughout the town, throughout town and into this fortress like compound which belongs to the top Northern Alliance commander here, Abdullah Rashid Dostum and as we, the Taliban soldiers were being taken off a truck, they were just being gently searched. They were taking all the personal belongings. There was absolutely no nervousness. As a matter of fact, although the fortress is extremely highly protected with hundreds of soldiers in the area, in the yard where they were being processed there was no visible amount of Northern Alliance soldiers. Of course, there were several guards, armed guards. But there was no visible sign of heavy machine guns or any sign of nervousness.
We also witnessed some of the prisoners of war were actually praying while this, one of them decided to blew himself, blow himself up. And one other interesting thing, Catherine, is that this incident happened as we were interviewing one of the prisoners who was from Lahore and -- I'm sorry, from Pakistan -- and he was telling us that he didn't feel that he was surrendering himself.
He said that he was just stopped fighting because he is a mullah and Mullah Omar had decided, had told him that there was a moment that there was no longer a need to fight against the Northern Alliance. He said that he did not want to fight against the Northern Alliance, that he came here to Afghanistan to fight against what he calls U.S. terrorists -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, very interesting.
CNN's Alessio Vinci joining us from Mazar-e Sharif with the latest from there.
As we've been telling you, the Taliban soldiers have been surrendering in Konduz and Mazar-e Sharif today.
We're going to go now to CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd. He's joining us live from Washington. Good morning to you.
MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, Catherine.
CALLAWAY: A lot going on this morning. Let's start with Konduz, certainly one of the hottest areas in Afghanistan right now. But we're seeing a lot of the mercenaries from the other countries still holding out.
SHEPPERD: Yes, it appears the mercenaries are holding out to an uncertain fate. All kinds of reports about what's happening to them, numbers ranging between 1,000 and 3,000. Rumors that they are going to be interned in a camp to the west of Mazar-e Sharif. The United States clearly does not want these people killed, but they absolutely do not want them to be able to escape back to their home countries and they want to definitely interrogate some of them for their information on bin Laden and the al Qaeda.
CALLAWAY: Should we expect more of what Alessio has just reported that has just happened a few moments ago in Mazar-e Sharif with the soldier who surrendered blowing himself up along with some Northern Alliance representatives? SHEPPERD: Yes, what's shaping up here, Catherine, is something very interesting. It sounds like there's the good Taliban, if you will, the ones from the local area, and the ones, many of the ones from this area up here are Tajiks from the local provinces. And if it's not confusing enough, by the way, the Taliban leader in that area is Mohammed Omar, the same as the name of the leader down in Kandahar. So it makes it even more confusing.
But they're being allowed to surrender, lay down their arms and they're even welcomed, in some cases, as heroes by the Northern Alliance forces. Then there's a other Taliban, the hard core Taliban, many of whom are holding out. And it appears that some of them are even shooting the surrendering Taliban, although this may be sorted out over the day, and these people may be allowed to go back to their homes. And then, of course, there's the hard core fighters, the foreign fighters, if you will, from other countries, uncertain fate there.
CALLAWAY: It's so complicated, General, to try to figure out how if it's your enemy, some are allowed to go back to their homes. Others are being held. Others are being shot.
SHEPPERD: Yes, it's mind boggling, it really is. This is the Afghan way of war. We talk about the fog and friction of war, which is war everywhere. But now you've got the Afghan way of war. These people know each other in many cases. They've fought each other and then they've formed alliances for many years and now they're surrendering to each other. Again, lots to be sorted out over these last two days here.
But clearly again the interest of the United States and the coalition is they do not want the foreign fighters or the hard core Taliban to escape. They want them and they want them to be interrogated and they want information from them. Where is bin Laden? Where is al Qaeda? How can we get them?
CALLAWAY: And while we're looking at the map, let's quickly talk about the area that's called Tora Bora. It's a strong pocket of resistance there near Jalalabad. Can you tell us about this area and since this is such a strong area, could it be an area where Osama bin Laden is hiding?
SHEPPERD: It could be, indeed, and not surprising that this is happening. We have reports this morning of Taliban resistance southeast and southwest of Kabul in the mountains. Now, just to the west of Kabul is 15,000 foot mountains. So these are rugged mountains. And then toward Jalalabad, which is also very close to the Pakistani border, you've got this area called Tora Bora.
Reports that there are lots of hard core al Qaeda fighters in that area, perhaps protecting bin Laden, even though he had been rumored to be in the southwest part of the country. And the proximity to Pakistan makes it a likely hiding place. And also you could escape easily into Pakistan if you had to from Afghanistan.
CALLAWAY: And we'll be watching that area very closely over the next 24 hours.
General Don Shepperd, thank you.
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