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CNN LIVE TODAY
Kandahar Skirmishes Show that War Far from Over in Afghanistan
Aired January 25, 2002 - 11:32 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Pentagon says there are good indications that Taliban and al Qaeda fighters are trying to regroup. We are going to talk about this with our CNN military analyst, retired General Wesley Clark -- General, good to have you here, right with us, in person.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Thanks, Daryn. Good to be here.
KAGAN: In Atlanta. The latest skirmishes that we are seeing outside the Kandahar airport in Afghanistan, a big indication from exactly what we are hearing from military officials, this battle is not over.
CLARK: There's no question about it. If you look at the number of troops that we estimated that the Taliban had in the beginning, some 45,000 troops, and you look at the number of al Qaeda, and then you try to account for the losses, you can't account for them.
KAGAN: Doesn't add up.
CLARK: We knew they sort of melted away and faded back in. It's their country, they are not just hiding out -- they are actually living there.
KAGAN: Unless they have been taken to Kandahar or off to Cuba or across the border to Pakistan, they are still there.
CLARK: Right. And there are still questions about the authority of this central government, at least in their minds, and they wonder, you know, "this is one more effort of the infidels to intervene in our country, we'll just stand fast, we'll stand for what we believe in, and we'll fight." And so, there will be a lot of head-knocking to come.
KAGAN: I want to talk to you about one of these challenges of this new alliance that the U.S. has come up with, and you can really see that if you look at Uzbekistan. This is a country that has come to great aid of the U.S., especially the military effort, and so you have the military praising how they have been helpful partners.
At the same time, you have the State Department coming out and saying these presidential elections you have you coming up, it's a sham, we're not even sending observers. Two different messages from the U.S. government to the military guys. Does that make it harder to do the job?
CLARK: Makes it harder for our country to do its job, because we are really in a very difficult situation there. We need the access, we need to get our military forces in there so we can use the bases, and we need options in case something goes wrong somewhere else, and so it makes perfect military sense to be there. But, this is an autocratic government, this is a government that is stifling democracy, this is a guy who basically taken a communist system and...
KAGAN: Said, "it's mine."
CLARK: So he is resisting the very things we as Americans stand for. It's a real dilemma for us.
KAGAN: And, isn't Uzbekistan -- that is one place that the U.S. military would like to have a continued presence, just because of where it is geographically.
CLARK: That's right, but there is also Kirgistan (ph), where we are building an airfield in there, and we have got a few people in Tajikistan, and all these countries are fighting, in addition to trying and take over and stamp out democracy, they are also fighting a Muslim extremist insurgency.
KAGAN: All the 'stans.
CLARK: Right.
KAGAN: Now, we've seen this effort against terrorism spread to other countries, namely the Philippines. Special operation forces being sent in there to help and to support the Philippine military, but if you look at the nooks and crannies and the dry atmosphere of Afghanistan and then the Philippines, it couldn't be more of a different environment, this dense jungle that I think reminds me more of like a Vietnam than it does Afghanistan.
CLARK: It does. Well, it's a tougher -- it's a tougher environment to use our high technology in.
KAGAN: Why is that?
CLARK: Because the weather interferes, and the vegetation interfere with the ability to see from high altitude with all of the electro-optical systems that we have. But more fundamentally, it is different politically. This is a government that really wants to cooperate with the United States.
KAGAN: But it's in its constitution that they can't just say, "come on over and fight."
CLARK: Exactly. And you know, they just asked us to leave about a decade ago. We pulled out of Subic Bay and Clark Air Force Base there. And so, there is a real dilemma. It's an issue, it's a political issue in the Philippines as to how much help they can have, and you know, we are going to have to measure our effect there not by whether we follow the rules of just providing training and advice, but actually by the results on the ground, and so you can expect that our troops are going to get up as close to the front as they need to.
KAGAN: And finally we are expecting today's Pentagon briefing to start about an hour and half from now. The last briefing, a couple days ago, Donald Rumsfeld was up at the podium for more than an hour, and almost that entire hour was spent defending the situation at Camp X-ray, at Guantanamo Bay. Do you think that is a distraction? Do you think the U.S. military planned for that -- not planned, but expected that would as big of a controversy around the world as it has turned out to be?
CLARK: Well, I think there has clearly been some misestimate of the public affairs impact. But, two things need to be said. First, we really need the information from these people, and the war is continuing. It's not over, and so, we have got to have that intelligence information. They need stay there as long as we can get information from them.
But secondly, we have to be sensitive to opinion abroad also, because, ultimately, terrorism a fight in countries in their own domestic environment. And so, it has got to be their full cooperation. They have got to use their police, their intelligence, their law enforcement to help us, and that means they have got to feel like we share their values.
And have the support of the people, and that is something we talked about previously.
CLARK: Exactly.
KAGAN: The P.R. war that goes along with the military war. General Clark, always a pleasure to have your expertise and insight...
CLARK: Thanks, Daryn.
KAGAN: Especially right here in Atlanta. Very good.
Once again, that Pentagon briefing set to get underway about an hour and 20 minutes from now. You'll see it live here on CNN.
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