Posted on 11/28/2001 2:41:44 PM PST by KQQL
CIA blunder sparked Taleban revolt that became a mass suicide
OLIVER AUGUST WITNESSES A MASSACRE
'Michael asked one Taleban why he had come to Afghanistan. He said: 'We are here to kill you' and jumped at Michael, who shot him and three others before being wrestled to the ground'
WHETHER it was incompetence, overconfidence or duty that prompted two CIA operatives to interrogate dozens of Taleban on their own will perhaps remain a mystery. But their decision triggered a revolt that became the single bloodiest engagement since the Afghan war began.
The siege of Kala-i Janghi, the ancient mudbrick fortress near Mazar-i Sharif, ended yesterday when the last foreign Taleban of Konduz were wiped out.
It began on Sunday morning, when the estimated 800 foreign fighters — Arabs, Pakistanis, Chechens and terrorists of the al-Qaeda network — imprisoned in the old fort suddenly turned on their outnumbered Northern Alliance captors.
A witness said: “The fighting started when the Taleban were being questioned by two men from the CIA. They wanted to know where they had come from and whether they might be al-Qaeda.”
Both CIA operatives were dressed in Afghan robes, had grey beards and spoke Persian. One of them was known as Michael, the other as David.
Michael asked one Taleb why he had come to Afghanistan. He replied: “We’re here to kill you”, and jumped at Michael, who killed him and three others with his pistol before being wrestled to the ground.
The witness said: “The Taleban beat, kicked and bit him to death.”
David also killed at least one Taleb, but was then forced to flee. He said later: “There was no way of stopping them. They ran straight into gunfire.”
David sprinted out of the building where the prisoners were being interrogated and across a courtyard into the main building to call for help. He told his commander over a satellite phone: “I think Michael is dead.”
Now, after three days of US airstrikes, desperate resistance and continuous assault, the death-toll includes scores of Northern Alliance fighters and every one of the resisting prisoners.
In the swiftly minted military euphemism, this was an “uprising”, but it was also an act of mass suicide and, in the end, a slaughter: by Afghans, of “foreigners”, directed by Britons and Americans.
Yesterday the twisted bodies of the dead were littered around the gardens of Kala-i Janghi on the outskirts of Mazar-i Sharif, but just a week ago the Uzbek Northern Alliance leader General Abdul Rashid Dostum, the king of this castle, drank green tea under the trees with Mullah Faizal, the Taleban commander in Konduz. The two warlords discussed what to do about the Taleban’s fanatical “foreign legion”, trapped in Konduz.
It was agreed that the mullah and his Afghan Taleban fighters would be given safe passage after surrender, but the foreign fighters would be handed over to General Dostum. It is not clear whether Mullah Faizal had any idea what the notorious general intended to do with the Taleban’s foreign fanatics, or much cared. General Dostum, who uses the castle as a military base and to stable his horses, had decided to use it as a prison camp to clear a logjam of Taleban prisoners on the road between Konduz and Mazar-i Sharif.
On Saturday the foreigners duly surrendered in Konduz, laid down their weapons (at least in theory) and were taken into custody by General Dostum’s forces and driven to the fort outside Mazar-i Sharif. Some of the surrendering Taleban apparently agreed to travel to Mazar without resistance under the impression that they were about to attack it.
On arrival at the dusty fortress, at least two of the vehicles containing the Taleban were not searched, the first of a litany of bizarre mistakes by their jailers.
Some of the Taleban still carried weapons beneath their clothes as they were herded into the basement. Others were said to have been astonished and enraged to find themselves suddenly incarcerated. It was rumoured that the most extreme elements had wanted to be jailed in the fort, intending to try to seize it from within, and stage a last, suicidal stand.
General Dostum had allegedly given assurances that the prisoners would be not be mistreated, but there is no evidence that the captured Taleban expected to be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention, or had a clue any such thing existed. Warfare in Afghanistan has its own, bloodier conventions.
On Saturday night, a Chechen prisoner approached a group of his Northern Alliance jailers, and detonated a hand grenade, killing himself, several other prisoners, and two Alliance commanders. But the main explosion did not take place until the CIA intervention on Sunday morning. Rebellion may also have been sparked by efforts to tie up the Taleban prisoners, many of whom apparently believed they were about to be killed. About 250 had been bound, according to one report, before the rest rebelled.
After killing Michael — whose body is still inside the camp, despite efforts by US special forces to retrieve it — the Taleban prisoners then overwhelmed the 20 Northern Alliance guards, killing them too; the skull of one was crushed with a rock.
The time was 11.20am. David telephoned the US Embassy in Uzbekistan on his satellite telephone: “We have lost control of the situation. Send in helicopters and troops.” The CIA agent had time to warn two Red Cross workers, who scrambled down the walls, as their vehicles inside were set alight by the rampaging prisoners.
The Taleban, armed with the guards’ weapons, then stormed the armoury. David estimated that the Taleban captured an initial batch of about 30 guns and then found two anti-tank weapons and two grenade launchers.
Within three hours of the “uprising”, US and British special forces arrived in Land Rovers, some in uniform and some in civilian clothes, and the battle to retake Kala-i Janghi began in earnest. Witnesses said it was quickly apparent that trained soldiers were taking part in the assault, as the ragged bursts of Alliance machine-gun fire were replaced by the steady single-shooting of marksmen.
The fight for control quickly enveloped most of the 19th-century castle. The Taleban were able to capture the south side, helped by the fact that only about 100 deeply nervous Northern Alliance soldiers were guarding the Taleban.
The witness said: “David asked his superiors for choppers to be brought in, as well as ground troops to get everyone out. They sent about 40 American soldiers, but the choppers were too far away in Uzbekistan. David’s people offered to bring in gunships and bomb the Taleban. They would flatten the whole castle and kill us all. David told them twice they shouldn’t do that. They were really pressing for airstrikes and after three hours they started. I have to say they were precise. They hit the target, or at least they didn’t hit us.”
The witness said: “David kept saying we have to get out of here before it gets dark or we will all die. We couldn’t look over the wall where the Taleban were. It was too dangerous to look. It was a very uncomfortable run, but we made it.”
The Northern Alliance gave no quarter. A few of the fainter-hearted Taleban managed to get out, and were swiftly put to death, according to witnesses. A pair of Taleban corpses could be seen propped in a gateway, each killed by a single bullet to the head.
That night an Alliance spokesman claimed that the fortress was under its control; nothing could have been further from the truth.
On Monday, the US intensified its bombardment and the Northern Alliance did not hide its intentions. “Those who are left over will be dead,” Alim Razim, General Dostum’s adviser, said.
But so far from the high-tech precision battle by highly trained special forces, the battle for the fort at times resembled something far more ancient, confused and inefficient. One “smart bomb” went astray, seriously wounding five US soldiers and killing and wounding a number of Northern Allaince troops.
The insurgents were thought to be led by Tahir Uldosh, a commander of the Uzbek revolutionary Islamic movement. But, in reality, no leader was necessary because the aims and orders of the Taleban resisters could hardly have been simpler: kill until you are killed.
By nightfall on Monday the Taleban, their numbers whittled down to perhaps 100 men, were still holding out. That night the smell of roasting meat wafted across the compound. The Taleban had killed a horse, for what would be, for all of them, a last meal.
Early yesterday, lorries carrying 200 Northern Alliance fighters and an anti-aircraft gun arrived at the fortress, as desert-camouflage-clad special forces troops moved in and United States warplanes circled above.
After a night of continuous bombardment by US gunships, the number of surviving Taleban was still further reduced, and by mid-morning the Northern Alliance had pushed the Taleban back into a large compound inside the PoW camp. One US special forces soldier called the bombing “fireworks you’ll never forget”. AC130 Spectre attack helicopters flew overhead five times, hovering and firing at close range.
The night-time raids left many bodies half-buried in the ground. Limbs and torsos rose out of the disturbed ground like tree trunks after a forest fire. The compound where the Taleban made their last stand was divided into two halves by a group of low buildings.
A tank attacked the western half of the compound, an exercise ground that now saw more vicious fighting than any young recruit could ever have imagined. By noon, the ground was littered with countless mangled bodies.
Next, the Northern Alliance moved into the compound’s eastern half, which was covered with trees, occasionally used by suicidal Taleban snipers. Surprisingly slowly for such an overwhelming force, the Alliance soldiers combed the greenery pockmarked with bodies.
They took no chances, or prisoners. One soldier fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a dead Taleban at close range.
One Taleban fighter, most likely Chechen, was still breathing as he lay in a ditch, his chest rising and falling. Junior Northern Alliance soldiers threw stones at his head.
When they saw dead Taleban, the Alliance soldiers would stop to take their shoes. Many Afghans have reported that the foreign Taleban fighters usually had the best equipment, apparently paid for by Osama bin Laden.
The soldiers would sit on the ground in the middle of a gunbattle casually unlacing a pair of boots or olive green trainers. When a commander saw them, he lashed them with a horse whip.
As soon as the Alliance soldiers had taken another Taleban position, they would use the newly captured weapons to pursue the next pocket. Piles of mortars, fuses and artillery pieces lay scattered among the bodies.
Alim Razim, General Dostum’s adviser, finally declared: “The situation is completely under control. All of them were killed.”
To clear the last pockets of Taleban resistance in the afternoon, Alliance soldiers approached the houses in the middle of the compound and fired at random into basement windows. Some 20-litre petrol cannisters were thrown in, then grenades.
As night fell once more, after three days of fighting, sporadic gunfire could still be heard; but these were celebrating Alliance troops, it seemed, for the guns on the other side had at last been silenced, and the Taleban killed to a man.
So excellent, that it does not surprise one that it was in an english newspaper. It would have been surprising had it appeared in an american newspaper.
at least we have geraldo (puke)
Okay, I stand corrected Mrs. Spann. It's really smart for two CIA cowboys to wade into the middle of a few dozen rabid prisoners of war and interrogate/insult them. After all, anybody superhuman enough to be a CIA bureaucrat is not subject to the same laws of physics or anything else as an ordinary human being.
I'm sorry if this man who DIED FOR OUR COUNTRY doesn't meet YOUR exalted standards.
Take care of your feet and they'll take care of you.;^)
The universal "Anybody Who Criticizes Anything The Cops Or The Military Do Is Unpatriotic" rag is wearing thin.
The guy has my gratitude and respect for dying for his country, but his arrogant belief in his own invincibility is what got him killed.
And my "exalted standards" are the same as General George S. Patton's, who said that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.
As I posted earlier (#25)there were correspondents reporting real-time as this happened and they directly contradict this report. I don't think anyone here is criticising dissent, just ill what appears to be ill informed contrarianism.
If anyone can think of a more effective way to "stuff this back down their liberal lying throats" than an e-mail, let me know. We need to stand up for the forces in the USofA that are keeping our butts safe - and come down hard on those that would lie to diminish them - and all our defences!!
Don't believe everything you read. "What a SHAM" is more appropriate!!
Do you have a copy of that story posted by the "Time" correspondent - filed way before the Brit press got off on blaming the CIA??
If so, please post it! Many thanks.
PS I think it first appeared on Drudge on Sunday night. Hopefully you know where to find it - it's the truth; the rest of this about the CIA stinks like a press set-up!
mrs bill klinton n her "lawyer" friends....thats who
The cause of the uprising was a Brit reporter from the Guardian - he disobeyed warnings and wandered into the center of a bunch of not ye dis-armed Taliban Arabs. This was reported !at the time - live! from inside the fort by a Time Mag reporter.
"Mike" Spann - rest in peace. Your an American Hero.
The Last Stand of a CIA man - Taliban prisoners riot
Source: National Post, with files The Associated Press
Published: November 26th, 2001 Author: Michael Higgins
Posted on 11/26/01 8:19 AM Pacific by jerod
November 26, 2001
The last stand of a CIA man Taliban prisoners riot: 'Mike' disarmed and killed in bloodbath at Mazar-e Sharif
Michael Higgins
National Post, with files The Associated Press
A CIA operative was killed when hundreds of Taliban prisoners of war staged a breakout yesterday pitting themselves against a handful of American and British special forces as well as Northern Alliance troops.
Time magazine's Alex Perry witnessed what U.S. officials believed was a suicide mission by the Taliban inside a fort in the northern Afghanistan town of Mazar-e Sharif.
Speaking from a satellite phone only 50 metres from the fighting, Mr. Perry told how American troops were calling up U.S. air strikes to quell the uprising in which a CIA colleague died at the hands of the Taliban.
Hundreds of the Taliban were reported to have been killed in the fight.
Mr. Perry told a colleague that the revolt, which lasted several hours, appeared to have been sparked by the imprisoned Taliban seeing the face of a Western journalist.
"It's merely the sight of a Western face. They're here to fight a jihad; they see a Western face; they assume that's who they've come to get," Mr. Perry said as gunfire erupted around him.
He said about 1,000 Taliban from Kunduz had driven to Mazar on Saturday and surrendered to Alliance commander General Rashid Dostum.
They were taken in trucks to Kalai Jangi on the west of Mazar but were not searched properly. It is believed prisoners smuggled weapons into the fort under their tunics.
On Saturday, a prisoner pulled out a grenade and killed himself and two commanders.
Then on Sunday, they revolted.
"There was a guy from London and a woman," Mr. Perry said. "They were interviewing Taliban prisoners when the Taliban suddenly just pounced on them."
"They beat the British guy quite badly, but he was rescued and taken out of the fort. But that's when the Taliban grabbed guns off the Northern Alliance, overpowered them, killed at least 20 and the Northern Alliance lost control of the fort and had to withdraw from the fort," Mr. Perry said.
He said the Taliban stormed out of a basement where they were being kept and managed to reach some jeeps containing ammunition.
He said two American soldiers were trapped in the fort, causing U.S. and British troops -- about 12 of them -- to rush to their rescue.
"The reason they're here is that earlier when the Taliban grabbed some guns and started fighting, there were two American soldiers inside the fort: one of whom was disarmed and killed -- he was called Mike -- and another one was also in trouble; he was out of ammunition, had managed to sort of hold off the Taliban with his pistol but he was out of ammunition when the main body of American and British people arrived. There's no word on his fate yet. But the Americans were mounting a rescue operation."
It was later reported that the dead American was "affiliated" with the CIA.
Mr. Perry continued: "There's British and Americans. They're fighting together. There's a hand-ful of them. I would say 12. They came in two jeeps. There's British SAS and American Air Force ... the British Air are in plain clothes, the Americans are in uniform."
He said the soldiers together with the Northern Alliance were fighting the 800 prisoners but, "the Americans are running the show.
"The American mission is two-fold. It's to wipe them out. And ... they've got one last [American] in there they're trying to get out.
" ... the Americans and the British are co-ordinating air strikes from their positions inside the fort on another part of the fort. And they're also directing the commanders inside when to tell their men to attack.
"There are two tanks inside, two NA tanks that are being used and the Americans have made nine air strikes so far. It's an incredible thing to watch. You can see the missiles coming in."
The Americans used heavily armed AC-130 gunships and MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters to carry out the air strikes.
"I think that the Taliban are pretty much convinced that they're going to get killed I think. Dostum has a fairly fearsome reputation. He's run over his prisoners with tanks before now," Mr. Perry said.
"He's given them the assurance that they'll be safe but they're unlikely to trust him. If they get any opportunity to fight I think some of them are going to take it. There are ... Afghans, some Arabs and Chechens and some al-Qaeda operatives.
"This particular group have no chance of survival. They are going to get wiped out. If the Americans don't do it, then the Alliance are going to execute them.
"Among Northern Alliance, there were at least 20 dead in the initial [attack], when the Taliban overpowered their Alliance guards. I've heard there's probably three to four hundred Taliban [dead] now. The mission by the Americans and Northern Alliance is to kill every single one of them now.
"There's wild rumours that this must have been a plan, in fact, to surrender and then try and take the fort from the inside. That's NA speculation."
David Culler, a spokesman at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla., later said the Taliban soldiers appeared to have planned the battle, "which appears to be a suicide mission on their part."
Soldiers were not the only ones at risk: Mr. Perry said some Red Cross workers were warned by a U.S. Special Forces soldier to get out of the fort and they jumped over a wall to escape.
Just before ending his report, he said: "There's great clouds of smoke rising from the fort, from bombing and from fires burning. The fort itself is of mud walls. The walls are about 20 metres high, but you can scale the side. [more gun shots] I wish that guy would stop doing that.
"We've got tracers going over our head. We're going to have to go get a taxi because they stop running at night."
New York -- TIME magazine correspondent Alex Perry filed an eyewitness report late Sunday of 800 Taliban prisoners in armed rebellion at a Northern Alliance fort near Mazar- I-Sharif. Perry saw 12 Americans and British soldiers fighting with the Northern Alliance against the rebelling prisoners who were grabbing weapons from an armory. The Americans were wearing Air Force uniforms. One of two Americans trapped inside the fort, according to Perry, is dead. "The mission by the Americans and Northern Alliance was to kill every single one of them now."
On Saturday, 800 Taliban soldiers surrendered to the forces of Gen. Rashid Dostum, a leading commander of the Northern Alliance. But on Sunday, the prisoners decided to rebel, grabbing weapons from an armory at the local fort and attacking the Northern Alliance. At least two American soldiers were trapped in the fort when it happened and at least one is dead. American and British forces have now joined in trying to quell the attack. Time's Alex Perry is on the scene and provided these details via satellite phone as the fighting raged.
QUESTIONS and answers from Alex Perry, TIME correspondent:
HOW FAR ARE YOU FROM THE FIGHTING NOW
200 yards
THESE ARE TALIBAN TROOPS THAT SURRENDERED YESTERDAY FROM KUNDUZ.
Yeah. That's right. Drove over toward Mazar laid down their weapons and were taken by Dostum's people. They laid down their weapons, then they were taken in trucks to Kalai Jangi on the West of Mazar-i-Sharif.
HOW MANY ARE INVOLVED IN THIS FIGHT RIGHT NOW?
800 [ all]
HOW MANY AMERICAN TROOPS ARE FIGHTING.
There's British and American. They're fighting together. There's a hand-full of them. I would say 12. They came in two jeeps.
12 AMERICANS AND BRITISH TOTAL?
Yes. There's British SAF and American Air Force uniforms they've got on. The British Air are in plain clothes, the Americans are in uniform.
THEY'RE NOT FIGHTING ALL 800 OF THESE MEN ARE THEY?
Yeah. They are. With the northern alliance.
SO THIS IS 12 ALONGSIDE THE NORTHERN ALLIANCE?
But the Americans are running the show.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY "RUNNING THE SHOW?"
Well the Americans and the British are coordinating airstrikes from their positions inside the fort on another part of the fort. And they're also directing the commanders inside when to tell their men to attack.
ARE THEY EXCHANGING FIRE AS WELL?
Yeah, they are. They are. [gunfire] Jesus. Some guy's just letting off a gun for no reason. Part of the American forces and the British forces are coordinating airstrikes. there's a group of ... six who are coordinating the airstrikes. Those are the guys I was with. And then there are another six or seven who are fighting the Taliban on the West side of the fort. The southwest side. The Taliban are holed off in a pocket on the southwest side. The bomb spotters are on the southeast side, on the roof of a two-story building. The reason they're here is that earlier when the Taliban grabbed some guns and started fighting, there were two American soldiers inside the fort: one of whom was disarmed and killed -- he was called Mike -- and another one was also in trouble; he was out of ammunition, had managed to sort of hold off the Taliban with his pistol but he was out of ammunition when the main body of American and British people arrived. There's no word on his fate yet. But the Americans were mounting a rescue operation.
AND THIS IS ALL HAPPENING INSIDE THE FORT?
Yeah, it's all inside the fort
EXPLAIN HOW THIS TRANSPIRED. THEY WERE BROUGHT TO KJ IN PICKUP TRUCKS AND NOBODY SEARCHED FOR GUNS THAT MIGHT HAVE NOT BEEN IN THE OPEN ON THEIR BODY.
Then last night one of them pulled out this grenade, detonated it and killed himself ... and there's two commanders now dead [referring to grenade] and a British journalist [from ITN] was slightly injured in that explosion as well. Very minor.
DID THEY DECIDE TO SEARCH THEM AFTER THAT?
I'm not sure. I don't know about that. And then this morning some more journalists came. There was a guy from the Guardian in London and a woman called Claire from the New York Times. They were interviewing Taliban prisoners when the Taliban suddenly just pounced on them. They beat the British guy quite badly, but he was rescued and taken out of the fort. But that's when the Taliban grabbed guns off the Northen Alliance, overpowered them, killed at least twenty and the Northern Alliance lost control of the fort and had to withdraw from the fort.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT SET THEM OFF?
Actually I think it was probably the British journalist. It's merely the sight of a Western face. They're here to fight a jihad; they see a western face; they assume that's who they've come to get.
WOULD BEING INTERVIEWED BY A WOMAN ALSO HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT?
No. She was outside.
THIS HAPPENED WHEN THEY TALKED TO THE MAN FROM THE GUARDIAN?
Yeah. That's right.
NOW IS HE OK? YOU SAID THEY BEAT HIM UP PRETTY BADLY.
We passed him in a taxi. [gunfire again] He was kind of sitting up. He looked pretty shocked. I'm going to see him a bit later. I think he's got sort of flesh wounds. I don't know if he's got any broken bones. I could tell he was beaten quite badly.
SO THE SHOCK OF SEEING HIS FACE, THEY ROSE UP, THEY OVERCAME THEIR CAPTORS AND TOOK THE GUN FROM THE NORTHERN ALLIANCE.
That's right. The NA lost control.
SO THOSE TWO AMERICANS. THEY HAPPENED TO BE IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME?
Absolutely. There were also some Red Cross workers in there. They told me that one American Special Forces broke into their meeting, said they had to get out of here, out of the fort, because the situation was out of control.
AND THEN THEY GOT OUT?
Yeah. They jumped over the wall.
NOW HAVE THERE BEEN ANY OTHER INJURIES AS FAR AS THE ALLIANCE. ONE CONFIRMED DEATH AND ONE POSSIBLE?
Among Northern Alliance, there were at least twenty dead in the initial, when the Taliban overpowered their alliance guards. I've heard there's probably 3, 400 hundred Taliban [dead] now. The mission by the Americans and Northern alliance is to kill every single one of them now.
THESE ARE AMONG THE THOUSAND THAT SURRENDERED YESTERDAY, CORRECT?
Yeah 800. They're all here. There's wild rumors that this must have been a plan, in fact, to surrender and then try and take the fort from the inside. That's NA speculation.
NOW HAVE THEY COMPLETELY TAKEN OVER THE FORT OR IS THE BATTLE HAPPENING INSIDE THE WALLS THE FORT?
This is happening inside the fort. They never took the entire fort.
HOW BIG IS THIS FORT?
It's about half a kilometer long and half a kilometer -- it's half a kilometer square. It's pretty big. Ooooohhhh, big explosion.
ARE THESE MAINLY AUTOMATIC AND SEMIAUTOMATIC RIFLE FIRE, OR IS THERE ANYTHING HEAVIER?
No, there are two tanks inside, two NA tanks that are being used. and the Americans have made nine air strikes so far. It's an incredible thing to watch. You can see the missiles coming in.
SO YOU'RE 200 HUNDRED YARDS AWAY FROM THESE MISSILES STRIKING DOWN?
When I was with the special forces I think I was about 50 yards [he begins to laugh]
RIGHT NOW YOU'RE 200 YARDS AWAY FROM THE TALIBAN OR WHERE THE FIGHTING IS?
From the fighting. We're outside the fort. Right outside the city walls.
SO THIS REVOLT AND IS BEING STAGED ENTIRELY WITHIN THE CONFINES OF THE FORT AND AS FAR AS DOSTUM AND THE REST OF THE NA KNOW HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH TAKING OVER KUNDUZ?
Nothing to do with any of that. I think that the Taliban are pretty much convinced that they're going to get killed I think. Dostum has fairly fearsome reputation. He's run over his prisoners with tanks before now.
DURING THIS ENGAGEMENT OR BACK IN THE LATE '90S?
I think it was '96-97 he was doing that. He's given them the assurance that they'll be safe but they're unlikely to trust him. If they get any opportunity to fight I think some of them are going to take it. There are supposed to be as well as Afghans, some Arabs and Chechens and some al-Qaeda operatives [gun firing again]
WHAT ABOUT A-QAEDA OPERATIVES?
There are supposed to be some with the group fighting.
ARE MOST OF THESE AFGHANS?
Yeah. I think they're mostly Afghans. But no one knows to be really honest. The prisoners aren't saying. They'll say that they are all Afghans so that they're treated a little bit better than if they said they were Pakistani or Saudi or something.
NOW IS THE PLAN JUST TO GO IN AND SWEEP THEM OUT?
Yeah. The American mission is two-fold. It's to wipe them out. And it's also to get -- they've got one last [American] in there they're trying to get out. As far as I could hear, they were still alive when I was there. They were organized
HOW LONG AGO WAS THAT?
Half an hour ago. They were trying to organize air strikes and cover fire so that he could make a run for it.
I'M STILL HEARING THE OCCASIONAL SHOT. IS IT DYING DOWN NOW OR IS IT STILL GOING ON?
No, no. It's still going on. It's not as fierce as it was. Earlier we were hearing a lot of AK-47 fire and a lot of M-4 fire, the American Special Forces rifle. So there was probably some hand to hand combat, but that's not happening at the moment. But there's still shots and explosions -- There's another one. A of tracer fire [as tracer fire goes overhead]
WHAT COULD HAVE GONE WRONG?
Well, as much as I hate to say it, letting journalists in among Taliban. He [The UK guy] was surrounded by Taliban. When I've been talking to them, I've been keeping at least three or four meters distance and the Northern alliance with me have been extremely nervous about letting me get close. They say that the Taliban are likely to try and kill me.
SO THERE WERE NONE OR FEW NA GUARDS?
There were a few northern alliance guards and they were the only ones that had the weapons, but by simple sheer force of numbers the Taliban could overwhelm them. That was a very bad I think. And then we saw a lot of northern alliance soldiers fleeing, some of them dropped their guns. I should also say that there are two Reuters journalists trapped inside there.
ANY OTHERS TRAPPED?
Maybe some northern alliance people as well. Well, almost certainly. It's gone quiet now. Suddenly. But the trouble was that the Taliban had gotten themselves into a position in the fort where they had access to the armory.
WERE THEY KEPT CLOSE TO THE ARMORY?
I don't know where they were kept. I think they were kept in the basement. Then stormed out of the basement and stormed Southwest part of the fort where there were six or seven jeeps full of ammunition. That was, in fact, what the Americans were trying to hit. To destroy their supplies [and] provide one almighty explosion that would kill a lot of them.
THE NA DON'T KEEP THEIR WEAPONS UNDER LOCK, STOCK AND KEY?
No, they're incredibly casual with their weapons. They just lay them against the wall, lie them on the ground. They're always on their shoulder or just knocking against the back of a chair [Gun shot]. When you leave in the morning, you put your shoes on, put your hat on and get your gun.
WE KEEP HEARING THAT IF THE TALIBAN SURRENDER, THE NA WOULD BE GLAD TO HAVE THEM ON THEIR SIDE. DO YOU THINK THAT'S GOING TO CHANGE NOW?
Well, this particularly group have no chance of survival. They are going to get wiped out. If the Americans don't do it, then the Alliance are going to execute them. We saw some Taliban dead today. There were some who had managed to break out of the fort and they'd been shot between the eyes. As for the grand plan, it's certainly going to undermine it, but in some sense it's the only option if Afghanistan is going to have any chance at peace.
IF PUSH COMES TO SHOVE
Right. But you've got to say that this isn't the most auspicious start for that push for peace.
WHAT TIME DID THIS BEGIN?
The firing started about 11:30 [in the morning]. It's now a quarter to six. You can see fires burning. But I can't hear any more weapons. American planes are still searching overhead though. The Americans arrived at about 2.
WHERE WERE THEY BEFORE THIS?
The British said they were in Maser. The Americans I think came from Samirghan. Certainly one of them did. I saw him. He was on his way there and he came back today.
THE FIGHTING STARTED AT 11:30 AND THE AMERICANS CAME AT 2, BUT THERE WERE TWO AMERICANS TRAPPED THERE. THEY WERE TRAPPED AT 2 OR 11:30?
They got trapped in there about 11:30. There was one guy who was trapped. They were Special Forces. They were probably going to have a meeting with the commander; I'm not quite sure why they were there. One of them was trapped. The other one wasn't initially trapped, because he was initially trapped and he advised the Red Cross workers to leave. And he was with them and they got out. He stayed behind to try and help his friend.
WHICH ONE WAS MIKE AGAIN?
Mike was the dead one.
DO YOU KNOW THE NAME OF THE OTHER ONE?
No, I don't.
WHAT'S GOING ON NOW?
There's great clouds of smoke rising from the fort, from bombing and from fires burning. The fort itself is of mud walls. The walls are about 20 meters high, but you can scale the side. [more gun shots] I wish that guy would stop doing that.
IS SOME GUY JUST SHOOTING HIS RIFLE OFF NEXT TO YOU?
It's a local farmer. He occasionally just fires his gun into the fort for no apparent reason.
IS THERE A TOWN INSIDE THE FORT?
There is a little town here, outside the fort. The civilians were evacuated. And we're sort of just sitting in a ditch now with a bunch of northern alliance guys taking cover.
THAT SOUNDS GOOD
We've got tracers going over our head. We're going to have to go get a taxi because they stop running at night.
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