Alliance: Bin Laden In South, Not Tora Bora
Dec. 1, 2001 -- As the battle for the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar continues, a spokesman for the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance says Osama bin Laden may not be where U.S. officials say they believe he is.
On Thursday, Vice President Dick Cheney told ABCNEWS that American officials believe bin Laden — who they blame for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States — is hiding in eastern Afghan mountain caves near his Tora Bora hideout. U.S. forces are searching for bin Laden on the ground in the area, and launching airstrikes on caves there.
But the Northern Alliance now believes bin Laden most likely is in the Kandahar area of southern Afghanistan, ready to head to mountains for guerilla warfare action. Or, they said, he already may be in the mountains.
"I believe some of his lieutenants are in Tora Bora, but not bin Laden himself," Abdullah Abdullah, a Northern Alliance spokesman, told a news conference.
Battle for Kandahar
Abdullah's statements came as anti-Taliban forces outside Kandahar reportedly are advancing closer to the city and U.S. airstrikes continue to hit the area in and around the city, according to reports from refugees who spoke to reporters in Chaman, on the border with Pakistan. Anti-Taliban forces claimed today to be attacking the Taliban at Kandahar's airport. The reports of the assaults in the Kandahar region could not be verified.
The American bombs rained down every five minutes, the refugees said early today, and some said there was panic there. However, the Taliban continues to talk boldly about holding the city and continuing to fight to the very last man.
There were reports from within Afghanistan that American bombs had caused dozens or hundreds of civilian casualties, but American officials rejected the reports.
About 1,000 U.S. Marines have taken over a desert airstrip within striking distance of Kandahar. They are expected to put pressure on the Taliban in the city, blocking roads and taking control of the city's one paved airport, but it is unclear if they will participate in any siege of the city.
A senior officer at the base told the Associated Press today the American forces have stayed out of battle, but a U.S. Marine told reporters that the troops are ready.
"This is what the American people want," he said. "If they want me to get rid of these guys, I represent them. Absolutely, we're ready, and we're willing to go."
Potentially, there is considerable danger, U.S. officials cautioned.
"As the size of the Taliban real estate diminishes, the danger to coalition forces may actually be increasing," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday. "Let there be no doubt, there will be further casualties in this campaign, in Afghanistan and elsewhere."
Rumsfeld asserted the United States would not accept any deal that gives Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammed Omar amnesty or safe passage, and Omar has ordered his troops to fight to the last breath — raising the specter of a bloody upcoming battle.
In an interview with a Polish weekly magazine, WProst, Omar is quoted as vowing that "America can expect numerous surprises." Websites claiming affiliations with the Taliban and al Qaeda say they have had communications by cellphone and the Internet from colleagues within Afghanistan, and allege forthcoming attacks on the U.S. or its allies in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United States. The claims or the identities of those making them could not be verified.
Revival at Talks
As for the future of Afghanistan, officials at talks near Bonn, Germany, aimed at creating an interim government indicate there may be breakthroughs. The Northern Alliance has finally proposed candidates for the interim government, following proposals by other groups at the negotiations, they said.
In addition, a Northern Alliance spokesman in Kabul said the Alliance would be ready to transfer power to an interim government, and that Burhanuddin Rabbani, the Northern Alliance leader, would not be its head. He also indicated the alliance might be flexible on the issue of allowing foreign peacekeepers, which has been a sticking point.
According to a diplomatic source, Rabanni was pressured to yield on some issues to allow the talks to move forward by UN Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, officials from the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Iran and an official from President Bush's National Security Council, who reminded him that this meeting represented a unique opportunity and that reconstruction money depended on an agreement.
A daily United Nations briefing in Bonn was postponed at least six hours from its normal time as the parties continue negotiations.
However, a senior Western diplomat suggested to ABCNEWS that the hopes of an agreement tonight were just wishful thinking. The diplomat noted that the delegates had yet to get to the hard part — actually bargaining over the people to sit in the interim administration. In addition, German officials are now indicating that Monday might be a more likely day for reaching an agreement than Sunday.
Hunting for Key Figures
As opposition leaders in Germany worked to form the next government of Afghanistan, others were busy dismantling the previous one in Afghanistan.
The Northern Alliance has agreed to turn over to U.S. authorities Ahmed Omar Abdel-Rahman — a son of the blind Egyptian cleric imprisoned in the United States for conspiring to bomb New York City landmarks.
The younger Abdel-Rahman, who goes by the nom de guerre Seif Allah — "Sword of God" — is believed to part of Osama bin Laden's inner circle.
Speaking on ABCNEWS' Primetime on Thursday, Vice President Dick Cheney said he did not rule out the possibility that Abdel-Rahman could be tried by a U.S. military tribunal.
"A high-ranking al Qaeda official captured in Afghanistan who's been involved in the organization is exactly the kind of individual that the tribunals were established for," said Cheney.
Animal Aid
In other developments:
Zoos and aquariums in North America kicked off a campaign this week to raise money to keep the zoo in Kabul, Afghanistan, running, to repair it and send a vet to tend to the animals. When it was built in 1970, the zoo held more than 500 animals and was well regarded for a zoo in that part of the world. Now, its buildings are shattered by bullets and bombs, water and electric lines are damaged, there is no heat as winter sets in, and the number of animals has dwindled to about 50 — including a handful of monkeys, wolves and an old lion blinded in one eye five years ago by a soldier's hand grenade. David Jones, director of the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, is organizing the effort, and said the response from animal lovers in America has been overwhelming. "The last two days we've had four phone lines ringing continuously," he said. "As of [Friday] night, we'd collected over $40,000 in under 48 hours."
A journalist for a Canadian weekly newspaper has surfaced in Pakistan and appeared to be in good health after apparently being held for four days by Taliban forces. Ken Hechtman, who writes for The Montreal Mirror, was freed after efforts by Canadian diplomats.
The Bush administration wants to reopen the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan, but it will take some time. The old U.S. embassy in Kabul has been closed for a dozen years. The State Department says reopening it will depend on the Afghan security situation as well as the condition of the building. The last U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan was gunned down in a shootout after being kidnapped by Muslim extremists in 1979.
The official count of the dead or missing from the World Trade Center attack continues to drop, as officials collate the various lists of people feared lost. New York City officials say 3,553 people are dead or missing, and they have identified 625 bodies. That number includes the 92 people on board American Airlines Flight 11 and the 65 on United Airlines Flight 175 — but not the hijackers.
ABCNEWS' Bob Woodruff in Kabul, John McWethy at the Pentagon, JohnYang in Germany, Bob Hardt, and pool reporters with 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Southern Afghanistan contributed to this report.