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CNN Live Sunday

Hunt for bin Laden, Omar Enters New Phase

Aired January 06, 2002 - 18:09   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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: As the United States gets ready to move thousands of detainees from Afghanistan to that U.S. military base in Cuba, the hunt for Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar and their top lieutenants enters a new and some say more dangerous phase. CNN's Kathleen Koch has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. military police are shipping to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, readying for the arrival perhaps within days of Taliban and al Qaeda detainees. Also Sunday, allied aircraft attacked position on the Afghan-Pakistan border, near Miram Shah (ph). It's thought tunnels nearby could be hiding al Qaeda and Taliban hold-outs.

Some believe the situation on the ground remains as dangerous as it was before the Taliban fell from power. They point to the shooting of Sergeant 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman as evidence it's difficult to tell friend from foe.

SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D-FL), CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Today, we're dealing with groups of people who represent a mixture of former allies and enemies, and obviously one of those enemies took this as an opportunity to take out his vengeance against a United States military.

KOCH: Meanwhile, the interim leader of Afghanistan says his people are doing their best to route out remaining Taliban leaders, including Mullah Omar.

HAMID KARZAI, AFGHAN INTERIM GOVERNMENT CHAIRMAN: They're all looking for him. He's one man, and one man can easily, you know, hide, can easily take a motor bike and go places.

KOCH: Even if the Afghan population does cooperate, some doubt any al Qaeda will (UNINTELLIGIBLE) about the word of whereabouts of Osama bin Laden.

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: I think we underestimate, first of all, the fanaticism of these people. I think we underestimate what their goal is. I think it's remote that $25 million reward is going to get anyone to turn him in.

KOCH: Top U.S. senators visiting the region quote Uzbek intelligence officials as saying bin Laden has escaped into Pakistan. One former foreign policy adviser warns the U.S. anti-terror campaign should broaden its focus beyond the al Qaeda leader.

HENRY KISSINGER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: He's a fugitive, and our strategy ought to be to get as many of these cells on the run as we can, so that they have to spend their energy surviving rather than planning attacks. But this is not something that can be focused on one man.

KOCH (on camera): Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai says he believes only 30 to 35 hard-core Taliban and terrorists fighters remain in this country.

For now, U.S. forces there continue the hunt, taking more prisoners, and hoping they provide new clues.

Kathleen Koch, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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