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CNN Saturday Morning News
Surrender Operations Prove Confusing in Afghanistan
Aired November 24, 2001 - 10:18 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: International leaders are trying to work out a future peace in Afghanistan, but the fog of war is obscuring an apparent Taliban surrender in several of the Afghan cities that we just told you about. CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd back with us now to help sort all this out.
General, thanks for coming back and speaking with us this hour.
MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Certainly, Catherine.
CALLAWAY: We do have a little bit of a confusing situation. We have all the reports of the Taliban surrendering. We know that they're surrendering out of Konduz and near Mazar-e Sharif, but then we have the situation of the Taliban soldier blowing himself up with a hand grenade, taking several other Taliban soldiers with him and injuring a Northern Alliance soldier as well. You know, what is this? Is this a surrender or not?
SHEPPERD: Well, it is a surrender and it's getting less confusing. What appears to be taking place, first, a trickle of trucks with troops, then reported tens and now, dozens of troops, perhaps later on today, hundreds, although night falls over there and tomorrow, theoretically, is the deadline.
It looks like the troops are being evacuated to the area of Mazar-e Sharif. General Dostum's headquarters just west of Mazar-e Sharif. They are being, essentially, disarmed at that point, all of their belongings taken. And then supposedly, they are going to be allowed, after they're interrogated and sorted, to go back to their home provinces.
The United States, of course, is very interested in sorting out the hardcore Taliban and any foreign fighters. But so far, no foreign fighters have been reported to have shown up in Mazar-e Sharif. So again, it looks like it's fairly orderly so far with the exception of a few incidents, probably some people being shot by their own side and then of course, this hand grenade incident, which is very unfortunate.
CALLAWAY: You know we're seeing the different treatment of the Afghan national Taliban and then the foreign national soldiers who have come over into Afghanistan to fight. How unusual is this, in all your experience and your war experience, in this type of treatment for the POWs?
SHEPPERD: I don't think we've seen anything like that. We've not seen a POW situation like this where the surrendering troops are being welcomed as heroes by people that they've fought for the last few years. This is extremely weird to those of us who are watching.
But on the other hand, these foreign fighters -- something that really could come out of this, especially if the peace talks or rather the talks on the interim government in -- under the U.N. auspices in Germany, take hold, we could see the entire nation of surrendered Taliban forces joining the opposition forces to throw these foreign fighters out of the country, including the al Qaeda. That seems to be what may be shaping here, Catherine.
CALLAWAY: And let's talk a little bit about the U.S. air strikes. We haven't mentioned that in the last couple of hours, about targeting some of the caves and the tunnels in southern Afghanistan.
SHEPPERD: Yes, it's likely that the air strikes have stopped in the Konduz area. We haven't heard any more reports of that and it's likely that air power is now being applied against the cave and tunnel complexes. As we gain intelligence on them, you can concentrate more and more of this on a smaller area, become more effective and it's also likely that more pressure will put on the Taliban wherever they remain, including these enclaves, southeast and southwest of Kabul, perhaps in the Tarragona (ph) area that are popping up and meant to influence the situation down in Kandahar as well.
CALLAWAY: Yes, quickly tell us about the daisy cutter bomb that was reportedly dropped near Kandahar.
SHEPPERD: Well, this would be, if it's correct, the third daisy cutter that has been dropped. It's a concussion bomb, a 15,000-pound bomb. It's likely that it was dropped on a specific target but also with the idea to produce a psychological effect, to let the fighters in the Kandahar area know that this is what's coming and so you better make an arrangement and you better -- you better recede control of the city.
CALLAWAY: All right, Major General Donald Shepperd, thanks for joining us again this morning.
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