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CNN Live Sunday

General Shepperd Discusses U.S. Mission in Afghanistan

Aired November 18, 2001 - 15:08   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.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: As the Taliban and Northern Alliance battle for control of key cities, we want to turn to our CNN military analyst, Retired General Don Shepperd, to find out what the focus of the U.S. mission is now.

General Shepperd, good to have you join us again -- thanks.

GENERAL DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Hello, Donna.

KELLEY: What is the focus, to try and keep breaking the Taliban, to go after Osama bin Laden? Is there a priority, or both?

SHEPPERD: Well, there is a priority, and it's going after bin Laden and the al Qaeda cells. On the other hand, you still have the military action going on in both Konduz and Kandahar, and so the idea is to support both of those areas, to get the Taliban out of both of those areas as soon as possible. But from a priority standpoint, if we can get our hands on any al Qaeda or, of course, bin Laden, that will be the priority.

KELLEY: Konduz in the north, Kandahar in the south, the last two strongholds for the Taliban. If those two last strongholds fall, is that, essentially, game over?

SHEPPERD: It's game over from a military standpoint, as far as ousting the Taliban is a military force. On the other hand, now the really tough stuff on the diplomatic and political side takes over. We've got, essentially, a north-south line, in which you've got the Northern Alliance United Front in the north and the Pashtuns in the south -- the age-old conflict in Afghanistan, if you will.

In the northern part, United Front is a relative terms. It's made up of several ethnic groups and tribes up there as well. So there are many miles to go before Afghanistan is a stabilized country with a new future.

KELLEY: Well, what are your concerns there? If Kandahar does get turned over to the Pashtun tribes, there are those who have said that they hate the Northern Alliance, and we've had all of this infighting for decades and decades in Afghanistan. How could that muddy the waters and cause a lot of trouble?

SHEPPERD: Well, it can muddy the waters politically, because what you've got to do is you've got to get a U.N.-brokered settlement in Kabul to get a coalition government. And it's very, very difficult to do.

As you know, President Rabbani is now back in Kabul. Now, he was the ousted president, so he has a right to be there. But it's also reported that the Northern Alliance has taken over some of the key ministries there. It's going to be difficult now when they've done that to come to an equitable political settlement.

There are requests to hold the council, if you will, the Loya Jerga under U.N. auspices in the country and outside of the country. We're just going to have to wait and see how it develops, but it needs to develop quickly.

KELLEY: Yes, you talk about (UNINTELLIGIBLE) diplomatically and politically, but also guerrilla warfare that could happen. It was a stunning week last week of victories for the U.S.-led coalition. But if they retreat to the mountains and rise up inside another day, what troubles do you see looming in the future?

SHEPPERD: Well, there's always going to be trouble in Afghanistan of some type. I mean, you just can't get away from it. It's either going to be between tribes or between factions, and what it's looking like it's shaping up right now is there's going to be mop ups in all of these areas, even the ones that have been supposedly conquered, like Mazar-e-Sharif, still some action going off in those areas as you clean up pockets. Also, the hardcore Taliban, and of course, some of the foreign fighters in the country are retreating to the hills. And it's going to require mop-up action, and a long effort to go after all of these cells.

The good news is they're finished as an effective coordinated fighting force, broken up into small cells. We'll train our sensors, on a smaller and smaller area, and go after them one by one, but it's going to take a while to mop this up. It's not over by any means.

KELLEY: The CIA is dismissing, today, a report that they were keeping some paramilitary operations secret from the U.S. military. Secretary of State Colin Powell is quoted on another network saying, "I don't want to confirm what the CIA does or does not do." He says, "Let me just say that they have been doing some rather splendid work," in his words, "with respect to activities in Afghanistan, working alongside our military forces that are inside Afghanistan."

What do you know about that relationship and how it's working?

SHEPPERD: Well, all of us know very, very little about the CIA, and that's the way it's supposed to be. They're not going to tell us what they're doing, but our CIA is key to our human intelligence, which is where we are weakest. It appears, from some of the things that have been going on there, the strikes, that the coordination between the Special Forces and the CIA operatives has been very, very good.

Now, you will have CIA liaisons in all of our targeting cells. Wherever the targeting is being done for the military forces, you'll have CIA liaisons there. We won't hear a thing about it, but they're doing good work from a human intelligence standpoint, and they're the key to human intelligence.

KELLEY: Our military analyst here, CNN Retired General Don Shepperd -- thanks as always. We'll see you again soon.

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