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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interim Government Sworn in in Kabul, Afghanistan
Aired December 22, 2001 - 08:01 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: It's a new era in Afghanistan. Following five years of Taliban rule, a new interim government was sworn in this morning, the Pashtun leader Hamid Karzai as its chairman.
CNN's Harris Whitbeck is in Kabul. He joins us now live with the very latest -- Harris.
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, we are on the grounds of the presidential palace in Kabul, where Hamid Karzai, the new chairman of the interim government, has just given his first press conference. He said that the next few days will be very busy. He said tomorrow he will hold his first Cabinet meeting. He says his main priority is to try to maintain peace and stability in this country. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAMID KARZAI, CHAIRMAN, AFGHAN GOVERNMENT: Peace and stability in Afghanistan and to give the Afghan people an opportunity to live at absolute peace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Economically?
KARZAI: Economically, Afghanistan has suffered tremendously because of years of war and disaster in the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITBECK: Mr. Karzai spoke about the significance of this day. He said that this day will go down in Afghan history only if he delivers on what he and his 29 member council have promised. He said if they do not deliver, this day will actually go into oblivion -- Leon.
HARRIS: Harris Whitbeck reporting for us live in Kabul. Thank you very much.
Well, as you might imagine, it is all smiles today in Kabul as the interim government takes office there. But just how does it play in Kandahar? You know, you may remember that's the former Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan.
CNN's Bill Hemmer is there and he has this report. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The news in Kandahar comes by only one source and that's radio. And people throughout the town today had their ears trained throughout the morning and the afternoon to the ceremony taking place in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
People tell us that they are happy and they are pleased that a new government is now taking shape and they emphasize the word new simply because they believe this government will help educate the people of this country much more than the dubious reputation of the Taliban or the Mujahedeen before them.
They also say it's especially critical for young people, people who have only known war throughout their entire lifetime, 23 years of war here in Afghanistan.
The other two matters to point out here is that the climates between these two cities is quite different. In Kabul we know Northern Alliance troops came through there weeks ago by the thousands and already a handful of British peacekeepers are on the ground.
In Kandahar, there are no peacekeepers here and local control is still dictated by tribes. It's also known in this city, locals say it's an absolute fact that Taliban troops and soldiers who have dissolved themselves back into society are now living again in the homes that they used to live in before leaving for the war here in Afghanistan.
But when asked whether or not those troops pose a threat or a problem they say no, because now the Taliban has no more power.
One other note, we came in yesterday to Kandahar with a local Afghan who's been working for CNN for the past several months and it was remarkable to see his expression today when he came back from the market talking about local people being quite happy and festive, videos being played, bought and sold, music being played throughout the city and also, he says, a number of people still shaving their beards and cutting their hair. For him today was certainly a day of joy, hope and optimism for his country's future.
In Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, Bill Hemmer, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, will the new Afghan administration in Kabul have an effect on the military situation on the ground and in the air?
Joining us now to shed some light on this is our military analyst, General Don Shepperd. Good to see you again, General.
MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about the new interim government here. And this doesn't mean that guerrilla attacks will be a non- existent thing, correct?
SHEPPERD: No, it doesn't. Again, we will be assisting the opposition forces all around the country and the new government attacking pockets of guerrillas, attacking pockets of al Qaeda and Taliban that remain and having air power on call to do that.
In addition, as we go through the Tora Bora area, the Helmand and Oruzgan Provinces north of Kandahar. If we find indications that either Omar or bin Laden or their minions are in that area, we'll be launching strikes there, although with coordination with the new government, Kyra. We'll have to be very careful.
PHILLIPS: Now, talking about launching ordinance, BLU-18, let's talk about that. This is the newest type of ordinance to be introduced in this war against terror, correct?
SHEPPERD: It is. It's a fuel air explosive. It's not a concussion weapon like the BLU-82 concussion weapon that we dropped earlier. The idea behind this weapon is it is a bunker buster, but it allows pressure to build up over a long period of time before it explodes. Now, when I say a long period of time, I mean more milliseconds. The pressure builds up and then it's ignited, producing an underground explosion that's much more intense, even with much more heat, than a normal bunker buster, which is kind of a standard explosive that just blows things up.
So this sucks air in and out of caves because of the thermal barrack pressure that builds up there and the heat. So it's very effective against caves and we rushed it together, as we do in all conflicts. You're never quite ready for the war you're in. So we rushed it together and shipped it there. Reportedly 10 of them can be delivered by F-15Es. Ten is all that exists right now. We did the same thing in the Gulf War with the original bunker busters, getting there just in time, and dropped about six of them -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Now for those that survive the attacks from the bombs, those that are captured, let's explain the difference between battlefield detainees and POWs and how the enemy forces that have been captured are being treated and taken care of at this point.
SHEPPERD: Well, in effect, there's no difference between the way they would be treated as a POW or a battlefield detainee. It's a legal technicality because war has not been declared against Afghanistan. We call this the war on terrorism, but that's a generic term.
The Geneva Conventions for the treatment of prisoners apply. You're allowed to inter these people, but you must give them food, water, shelter and allow them to communicate with their families through the Red Cross while you're interrogate them. The difference is they're interrogated by military interrogators. These are intelligence people that are trained in interrogation and, of course, also the FBI now has been brought in to interrogate high level al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners to try to gain intelligence about things going on all over the world and possible future attacks as well as the 9/11 attacks -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: And General, a lot of Americans are also asking what country is next or is Afghanistan it?
SHEPPERD: Well, clearly Afghanistan is not it and clearly other things are going on as we speak that we're not being told about around the world. You can be sure if you are a Taliban, if you are an you know, if you are a terrorist or if you support those or finance them or house them, your next visitor may be the U.S. military or a 2,000 pound bomb. It is very clear that the president intends to pursue this war against terrorism all around the world.
And so it may not be sequential. It may be simultaneous and a lot of it we don't know about. But where next, clearly Iraq is in the crosshairs, but it doesn't mean we'll go there next and it doesn't mean we'll go there militarily. But if you're a terrorist, we're coming is the answer, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: General Don Shepperd, thank you so much and we'll see you once again in the next hour.
SHEPPERD: A pleasure.
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