New Afghan Cabinet Meets, U.S. Active

Dec. 23, 2001 -- After his first cabinet meeting in Kabul today, interim Afghan Prime Minister Hamid Karzai said the new Afghan government will continue to welcome the presence of U.S. forces.

"As long as there are these terrorists, and as long as we think there are remnants of terrorists, those forces can stay and fight terrorism," Karzai said today on CNN's Late Edition.

Those U.S. forces continued to be active today. In Kandahar, explosions rocked the outskirts of the city, as U.S. bomb disposal teams destroyed Taliban munitions dumps, with U.S. B-52 bombers circling overhead.

Pentagon officials confirmed that an al Qaeda leader was captured in Kandahar and brought to a detention center at the city's airport, bringing the number of prisoners now in U.S. custody to 24.

In Tora Bora, Afghan forces, aided by U.S. troops, found more caves, once filled with al Qaeda fighters, now holding only a few scattered weapons and ammunitions.

New Government

Karzai, a 44-year-old southern Pashtun tribal leader, took office on Saturday as part of an interim government to replace the vanquished Taliban. After signing his oath of office, Karzai embraced Burhanuddin Rabbani, the pre-Taliban president of Afghanistan, as foreign diplomats and Afghan tribal leaders applauded.

"The number one priority is to maintain and further promote peace and stability in Afghanistan, and to give the Afghan people an opportunity to live at absolute ease," Karzai said afterwards. "If we deliver to the Afghan people what we promise, this will be a great day. If we don't deliver, this will go into oblivion. I hope we will deliver properly to the Afghan people and then this day will be remembered nicely."

The interim government — 30 members representing several Afghan tribes and including two women — has six months to stabilize the devastated nation. Then, a council of tribal leaders will begin to chart out how Afghanistan will achieve a permanent constitution.

Convoy Protests

But there were some signs of unrest today as the new government in Kabul got down to business. Tribal leaders still were protesting Friday's U.S. attack on a convoy near the eastern Afghan city of Khost that reportedly killed dozens of people.

U.S. military officials, who say they are still investigating the attack, said intelligence continued to indicate the convoy contained Taliban leaders.

A member of the convoy injured in the attack said there were no Taliban in the convoy, just tribal elders on the way to attend Karzai's swearing in.

Is Bin Laden Dead?

The whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, the Taliban-sheltered al Qaeda leader who the United States says masterminded the deadly Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. targets, remained unknown. Gen. Tommy Franks, head of the U.S. military effort, said Saturday that bin Laden last was seen a week ago.

In an interview on Chinese state television Saturday, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf virtually dismissed the possibility that bin Laden could have crossed the border into his country, and that he may not even have survived the U.S. air attacks.

"Maybe he is dead because of all of the operations that have been conducted, the bombardment of all his caves that have been conducted," Musharraf said, according to the Associated Press. "There is a great possibility that he may have lost his life there."

Karzai said today that bin Laden's death would be good news.

"If he's been killed, then it's good news for the people all over the world to know that a menace in the name of terrorism in the form of that person is no longer there," he said on CNN's Late Edition.

Skepticism From Bin Laden's Mom

In other developments:

Interviewed by a Saudi journalist on behalf of London's Mail on Sunday, Osama bin Laden's mother alleged a tape in which bin Laden incriminates himself in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has been doctored. She said the superimposed quotes over the uneven and unclear audio don't ring true, adding the words are very unlike her son.

Marines in Kandahar prepared for Christmas today. A U.S. Navy chaplain, Fr. Joseph Scordo, led a congregation. "Just because they're in the military, just because they're out of their home situation, their home churches and congregations, they haven't lost touch with God," he said. "And God hasn't forgotten about them. It's a good sign. It's a comfort, in some ways for them, I think."

ABCNEWS' Jim Sciutto in Washington, Bill Blakemore in Afghanistan and Tom Rivers in London contributed to this report.