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CNN Live Sunday
Northern Alliance Forces Claim Major Advances
Aired November 11, 2001 - 15:02 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: And as we mentioned earlier, Northern Alliance forces claim major advances this weekend against the Taliban. A key development is the opposition says it has recaptured its former stronghold, the northern city of Taloqan, and CNN's Satinder Bindra is near the fighting in northeastern Afghanistan. He has details.
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest here is the Northern Alliance forces are claiming that they are routing the Taliban in north and central Afghanistan. So far, there's been no major response from the Taliban, but here on the front lines, it's evident that Taliban guns have fallen silent and the Taliban indeed are retreating.
The Northern Alliance forces say the Taliban are retreating towards Kabul. Earlier today, the Northern Alliance claim to have captured three very significant cities, the City of Bagram, the City of Pul-e-Khumri and the City of Taloqan, which was once a Northern Alliance stronghold. The Northern Alliance foreign minister, Dr. Abdullah, says the Taliban forces have today suffered a major setback.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ABDULLAH ABDULLAH, NORTHERN ALLIANCE FOREIGN MINISTER: The important of this big defeat from the Taliban, dramatic defeat from the Taliban, is not only that they have lost large areas, but they have lost their main fighting force.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BINDRA: Dr. Abdullah was speaking to the media also said that hundreds of Taliban soldiers have been killed. He said thousands of Taliban troops over the past few days have either defected or surrendered to the Northern Alliance forces here in this sector where I am.
The guns have fallen silent and Northern Alliance forces claim to have captured a very important Taliban stronghold called Calcutta Hill. What that means is up in these hills, just here where I am, that hundreds if not more Taliban soldiers are now trapped. It is likely, said Northern Alliance commanders, that these troops could try and move towards the neighboring country of Tajikistan. Satinder Bindra, CNN, northeastern Afghanistan. CALLAWAY: Now we want to take a different look at the Northern Alliance gains in the battle against the Taliban. Putting the military language in chieftain perspective for you, we're going to show you a map that will show the terrorists only controlled by opposition forces on September 23.
You can see outside military analysts estimated that that area was roughly only 10 percent of the country. Now here is a look at what the rebels apparently control now. The orange area has expanded in northern Afghanistan, but the alliance also has pockets of control now in other parts of the country.
Well, the US-led bombing campaign has largely cleared the way for Northern Alliance advances in Afghanistan and CNN's Kathleen Koch is joining us now from the Pentagon with details of the latest progress in this war. Hello, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Catherine. Well, that map tells quite a story and the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today maintains that the US campaign and its support for the Northern Alliance oppositions group is taking a toll on both the Taliban and the al Qaeda terrorist network.
On several Sunday morning news talk shows, the defense secretary said that the Northern Alliance opposition does have what he calls "effective control of that key city of Mazar-e-Sharif", while he does say though that there are still some pockets of resistance. Rumsfeld insisted that the Taliban has taken quite a beating in its loss of that strategic city.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: They feel the pressure. From everything we can tell, they are -- they have less money, they have poor communications, their people are being killed, hundreds were killed in this latest Mazar-e-Sharif effort. Some of their leadership has been killed and if -- they're having friction between the al Qaeda and the Taliban. All of that is good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Rumsfeld also responded to a New York Times article that appeared this morning that contended that the US Government had identified three sites in Afghanistan that could be potential chemical or biological weapon sites. Rumsfeld countered that the US had identified them but hadn't bombed these sites.
Rumsfeld countered that he believed that US warplanes had indeed bombed some sites, which could have been production sites, while he said that others had indeed been left alone. And then there are still others that the Defense Secretary believes still have not been located. Secretary Rumsfeld said that while the U.S. believes that Osama bin Laden may very well have developed a chemical or biological weapons capability, that it is unlikely that he has yet acquired nuclear weapons. Catherine?
CALLAWAY: Kathleen, we know that the USS Stennis is set to leave out of San Diego tomorrow. Any comments from the Pentagon on that?
KOCH: No comments other than, this is a stepped-up deployment. This ship was not to have headed out for another month and a half. Now we don't know if it is being deployed early to replace the aircraft carrier, Battle Group, that returned to Norfolk, Virginia, just a couple of days ago. But that -- their aircraft carrier battleship with John Stennis is made up of about 10 ships and submarines and carry some 8,500 sailors and marines, and it's heading over to the region to be part of "Operation Enduring Freedom."
And of course, word has also come today from the British Government for the first time that it has forces on the ground, basically doing the same sort of thing as the roughly 100 US special forces troops in Afghanistan are doing, advising and assisting the Northern Alliance troops.
And Secretary Rumsfeld this morning also pointed out an interesting item. That Iran as well, Iran has some troops on the ground -- not troops exactly, he didn't use that word, but advisers, liaisons, who are also helping resistance forces in Afghanistan. Catherine?
CALLAWAY: Thank you. Kathleen Koch from the Pentagon.
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