Live From Afghanistan: U.S. Forces Move Forward; Hamid Karzai Faces Multiple Challenges; Legend of Dragons in the Mountains of Tora Bora
ANNOUNCER: U.S. forces move forward. Two operations with one goal, bring Taliban and al Qaeda leaders to justice. For the new Afghan leader, a more pressing matter.</s>JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For days now, a meeting with tribal elders, an effort to unify his country.</s>ANNOUNCER: And a tale of dragons in the White Mountains of Tora Bora, a centuries old legend brought back to life.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Of caves and bad spirits, though something permeates the ages. The common thread of good versus evil transcending the centuries.</s>ANNOUNCER: "LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN," Nic Robertson.</s>ROBERTSON: Tonight, LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN comes from the White Mountains near Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan, the last known hiding place of Osama bin Laden. However, it is the hunt for the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, that appears to begin to be heating up. U.S. Special Forces are joining anti-Taliban fighters about 120 miles northwest of the Taliban's last stronghold, Kandahar City. They're centering their activities around the mountains at Baghran, in the province of Helmand. They believe that Mullah Omar is held up there with hundreds of his fighters. In another operation, hundreds of U.S. Marines have deployed in Helmand Province in intelligence gathering operations. To find out more about both those ongoing operations, we're joined by Bill Hemmer with the Marine Base in Kandahar Airport. Bill, what's the latest?</s>BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nic, good morning to you, 5:30 a.m. local time here in Kandahar. Within the past hour, we saw the several hundred marines who set out on that mission about 30 hours ago come back here to the Kandahar Airport. In fact, we've got some videotape, taken just within the past 60 minutes, that shows the number of light armored vehicles the LAVs that rolled back into the Kandahar Airport here. When asking the Marines about the operation, many said it went well. It went fine, but rather uneventful. One Marine described it as a very cold mission with a lack of sleep and also the only encounter, he said they came across, were a group of farmers along the roadside. As you mentioned, Nic, the reason for this mission was to find intelligence in a compound in Helmand Province, a rather large complex we're told, that consists of about 14 different buildings and several hundred marines were sent out to investigate that. Again, the ultimate search here is for more information on Taliban and al Qaeda leadership. Earlier on Tuesday, Colonel Andrew Frick of the U.S. Marines here in Kandahar, in charge of many of these operations described the compound and what the marines were targeting. Here's the colonel.</s>COLONEL ANDREW FRICK, U.S. MARINES: You see a complex of structures, if you want to say walled-type compounds as you see in a lot of the homes or settlements here. There's a wall around them. There's numerous buildings or sub-buildings inside the wall. In this particular case, there were no caves, at least not caves in the side of a mountain, because of the location. The one we went into this morning was in very good condition, at least from what our imagery showed and from what reports that I have back. Some of them have had damage, not by us, but previously.</s>HEMMER: Once again to repeat, the Marines tell us that there was no hostile fire, no -- involving U.S. Marines here. In addition to that, they tell us they were working in cooperation, what they described AFT, anti-Taliban fighters on the ground, working Afghan forces throughout Helmand Province. Apparently they were the ones, in the words of one marine, who were knocking on the doors basically throughout this entire operation. In addition to that, the marines say they wanted to complete the mission by sun up Wednesday morning here and indeed that is what they have done here in Kandahar -- Nic.</s>ROBERTSON: Bill, 200 Marines, still that's a large number for an intelligence gathering operation. Do the Marines say why so many?</s>HEMMER: Yes. Nic, it's our understanding through the Marines here that the greater amount of Special Forces operations have been working in groups of six or eight. They say due to the size of this compound, again we described it as a walled structure with about 14 different buildings. Apparently the structure was so big that they needed a lot of marines to go in there. They also say whenever they go on a mission, they take at least five times the firepower needed, just in case, Nic.</s>ROBERTSON: Bill, are you getting any details back on the hunt for Mullah Omar in the Baghran cave area, in the northwest of Kandahar?</s>HEMMER: Nic, it's our understanding here in Kandahar, part of this mission was to find and track down Mullah Mohammed Omar. They say they've been watching this compound for some time. They say it was occupied then emptied, occupied once again, then emptied once again, and that's the result for this mission that we have seen in the past 30 hours. With regard to the hunt for Mullah Mohammed Omar, it is quite apparent, sources at the Pentagon do indicate that there are plans on the table for future missions involving the marines in the area of Baghran, where many believe Mullah Mohammed Omar may now be taking refuge. Again, these are plans on the table. They have not been initiated just yet, but they may be sometime in the very near future. Nic.</s>ROBERTSON: Bill, what's the level of trust between marines and the ATF, the anti-Taliban forces? Here in Tora Bora, there are many people that speculate that the Eastern Alliance fighters somehow let Osama bin Laden slip through their fingers. Is there a concern amongst the marines and Special Forces there that this could happen with Mullah Omar?</s>HEMMER: A bit of a split decision here, Nic. The Marines tell us no. They say they're working quite well with the Afghan forces and they're quite satisfied with that mission and the operation as it is now in force. With regard to the Special Forces though, sources within the Green Berets do indicate to me that they're quite concerned that not enough Special Forces have been sent in in certain areas. They indicate that they are "chomping at the bit right now." Some say they can't sleep at night, trying to get a piece of the action, as they describe it. Others indicate that they've been here for several weeks and have basically done nothing. They say they're growing with more frustration and think they should have a larger role possibly in the hunt for Mullah Mohammed Omar. But certainly, Nic, those decisions are not made on the ground here. They come from a much higher source in Washington, D.C. -- Nic.</s>ROBERTSON: And Bill, is anyone giving you any sense of why it's taken almost three weeks to go after Mullah Mohammed Omar? When we were in Kandahar a little over three weeks ago, the same tribal leaders were telling us that Mullah Omar was up in this compound. He'd gone there with his fighters. But it's taken a long time to get around to chasing him down.</s>HEMMER: Yes, fair question. Here's what I can tell you. The local governor of Kandahar, Governor Shirzai (ph) was here at Kandahar earlier on Tuesday. He indicates that about 1,500 Taliban fighters are in that town of Baghran that you're talking about, maybe protecting Mullah Mohammed Omar. Apparently he says he has given them a deadline to surrender within five days' time and says that deadline should be met. With regard to the other aspect, there's no telling. Those questions probably should be directed at the Pentagon, and at Central Command in Tampa. There's no way to ascertain as to why or why not that has not been carried out. In addition to that, Nic, we're now into the month of January. We know that Kandahar fell on the 7th of December. It's around that time, or earlier that week that many believe Mullah Mohammed Omar took refuge in Helmand Province. But again, many military sources say he can run for a long time but he's going to die tired in that effort -- Nic.</s>ROBERTSON: Bill Hemmer in Kandahar Airport with the Marines, thank you very much for that update. The most high profile Taliban U.S. prisoner taken so far, the American Taliban fighter John Walker has been moved from the USS Peleliu in the Arabian Gulf to another vessel there, the USS Bataan. Apparently, the Peleliu is being readied for the return of the marines, who are now at Kandahar Airport. So far, the United States has 210 suspected al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners in their custody, and Red Cross officials are checking, they say, to insure that all those prisoners are having proper standards of care maintained.</s>GIANNI BACCHETTA, INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS: We are going inside. We are registering each one of these prisoners. We are talking to them about their detention conditions, and we are very keen on knowing that the let's say minimal standards are respected considering health care, considering food, considering sheltering.</s>ROBERTSON: Well as Bill was reporting a little earlier, the anti-Taliban fighters chasing Mullah Omar are under the commander of Governor Sharzai. However, as John Vause reports from Kabul, it is the head of Afghanistan's interim government, Hamid Karzai, who has authorized the search for the Taliban leader.</s>VAUSE (voice over): With intelligence reports suggesting that the Taliban leader Mullah Omar may be hiding in a remote province of central Afghanistan, combat ready marines in Kandahar boarded planes before dawn to join the hunt for America's second most wanted man. Despite the U.S. fire power being sent to the region, the new Afghan interim chairman, Hamid Karzai, told CNN that Afghan soldiers were taking the lead in the operation.</s>HAMID KARZAI, AFGHAN INTERIM GOVERNMENT: Yes, I have information about that. I have authorized that.</s>VAUSE: Karzai was also confident about catching Omar, telling CNN "if not this time, next time." For the new Afghan leader though, there have been other more pressing matters. For days now, meeting with tribal elders an effort to unify his country. At the Presidential Palace today in Kabul, there was only praise for Karzai from provincial delegates, this man saying "congratulations to this brave and decisive and heroic leader."</s>KARZAI: They bring us their demands. They give us their complaints. So far it has been support, support, support, support which is very good. They're asking -- a lot of them are asking for the arrival of the international forces, which is again something that Afghans are very keen to have peace in Afghanistan.</s>VAUSE: But even the new leader is surrounded by reminders of the past decades of war. Today, showing the U.N. Envoy to Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi, the damage to the Presidential Palace.</s>KARZAI: This is shockingly sad, you know. From here in, there were all these pieces of Afghan art</s>VAUSE: This room was once part of the home of Afghanistan's Royal Family, over 100 years old. It was later a museum, but it's been heavily damaged, its historical treasures looted.</s>KARZAI: A tragedy. A tragedy.</s>VAUSE: John Vause, CNN, Kabul.</s>ROBERTSON: When we come back, how some Afghan refugees are beginning to return home.