Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

Taliban Surrenders Baghlan

Aired November 24, 2001 - 11:27   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: And now breaking news to bring you. We have, I understand, General Jaffar Naderi, commander of the Northern Alliance -- a leader of the Northern Alliance. He's on the phone from Baghlan; that's just north of Kabul.

General, can you hear me, sir?

JAFFAR NADERI, NORTHERN ALLIANCE COMMANDER: Yes, I hear you.

PHILLIPS: I understand that at just this moment you are coming on to talk to us about the area of Baghlan. Is it true that it is under complete control of the Northern Alliance right now?

NADERI: Yes. As I told you, about five days ago we took over. All the Baghlan (UNINTELLIGIBLE) under the control of the Northern Alliance. And the city is very quiet, and the people live in a peaceful time right now in Baghlan Province. And also we had some commanders communicated us from Konduz Province, which is the neighbor of Baghlan Province.

And one of the famous commanders -- his name is Abdullah Machoni (ph), he surrendered to us with about 450 Talibans, which they don't have any foreigners with them, and they're all Afghan Talibans. They came and joined us in the Baghlan Province.

As soon as he got here, I supported him and I ordered him to go back at the front line, and to communicate some other Taliban which are left inside Konduz.

They communicated me that they're going to surrender to us, to the Northern Alliance in Baghlan Province. And hopefully I send them down there. And right now the situation in Konduz is almost very complicated, and some of the groups have communicated us, and they've tried to come and surrender to Baghlan Province.

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about the surrendering Taliban troops right now. Can you tell us how many troops? Can you tell us how many commanders?

NADERI: Yes, the commanders down in Konduz, as I told you, that there was one commander who surrendered to us. And the people in Konduz Province, any nationalities, any religion -- Pashtuns, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Tajiks, they're all our brothers. And most of these people, they're trying to catch me on the phone that they did. And I told them to don't worry, I'm going to send one of my commanders, which is Abdullah Marchoni (ph). He will come closer to you and you can surrender to them -- to him and he will pass you guys safely to Baghlan Province.

PHILLIPS: And sir, can you tell us who has helped you win, or take this victory? What type of support did you have, and who do you owe this victory to?

NADERI: This is -- all this victory belongs to Afghanistan and to the Northern Alliance for the people in Afghanistan. And I don't have just one commander, I have tens of commanders who used to be with the Taliban inside Baghlan Province, because they didn't have any chance to escape or run away. They couldn't leave their people.

While I was outside for about three years, I had communication with them inside the province. And hopefully -- there was about five or five and a half thousand Taliban -- Afghan Taliban troops who were under the control of the Taliban.

And as soon as I got closer to the Baghlan Province, everybody communicated with me and they tried to catch the Taliban who were the real Taliban, who were inside the Baghlan Province. And some of their Taliban who defended, we had to fight against them. The rest of the Taliban, which was around about 60 or 70 of them. They surrendered, and now the peace is going on down here in Baghlan Province.

PHILLIPS: General Jaffar Naderi, thank you very much, Northern Alliance leader joining us there from Baghlan. I appreciate it -- Catherine.

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: As we just heard General Naderi say, Taliban forces in northern Afghanistan are beginning to surrender to the Northern Alliance. But we heard, also, the president this morning the U.S. war on terrorism far from over.

Let's go now to the Pentagon, talk with CNN's Brian Nelson about the latest developments coming out of Afghanistan.

And Brian, what is the Pentagon saying this morning?

BRIAN NELSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Catherine.

Yes, the U.S. Pentagon is aware of what's going on, the U.S. central command saying that it is aware and has reports that Taliban forces all across Afghanistan surrendering, particularly in the cities around, cities of Mazar-e Sharif and Konduz, and now we just heard around Baghlan Province.

The U.S. military is watching the events on the ground, we are told, very closely through electronic means, and that is probably indicative of U.S. drone planes as well as satellites. And we're also told that the U.S. military has personnel on the ground to monitor what is going on.

Now what is going to happen to those fighters who do surrender is where things begin to get murky. The U.S. wants to be sure that the al Qaeda fighters, who particularly are trapped in the city of Konduz do not slip through and get out to other countries where they could resume their activities under Osama bin Laden.

Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said earlier last week that the United States has neither the manpower on the ground, that is enough troops, nor the inclination to itself hold, jail, and feed any prisoners and it's leaving that to the Northern Alliance.

So despite the surrenders we see underway, we're told that the level of anxiety is still quite high. The U.S. military says a lot of these Taliban and al Qaeda fighters remain in the hills and remain in other cities, and they still could cause some trouble.

And yesterday, 63 U.S. strike aircraft continued attacks on al Qaeda caves and terrorist camps around the southern city of Kandahar. So things are still a little murky. The U.S. military, the Pentagon, U.S. central command watching things very closely.

CALLAWAY: And Brian it sounds like despite all of the people, the Taliban surrendering, U.S. air strikes will continue, I guess?

NELSON: Yes. We usually get these reports a day late, and I've just reported to you what was happening yesterday. We can go on the assumption that those planes are active today.

CALLAWAY: I guess we'll find out a little bit later on. Thank you, CNN's Brian Nelson.

NELSON: Thanks, Catherine.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com