NR: "Al Qaeda does not
have bases or sanctuary of any kind here in
Afghanistan."
Friday, September 11, 2009
Length: 3:34
LARGE (41.2 MB)
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Michael talks to Kyra Phillips about Osama bin
Laden's relevancy to the current war in
Afghanistan.
KYRA
PHILLIPS: Would you have thought back on 9/11/2001
that eight years later the stakes in Afghanistan
would be as high as ever?
CNN's Michael Ware can tell us more about that. He's
been in the battle zone with some extraordinary
reports. He joins us live once again from Kabul.
And I don't know about you, Michael, but I find it
fascinating that even eight years later, still so
many people don't understand the difference between
al Qaeda and the Taliban, and how it all came
together on 9/11, and how much of that terrorism
still thrives in that country.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right.
I mean, it was a complex mix of extremist, you know,
jihad or holy war and Islamic militant groups that
were festering here in Afghanistan that, you're
right, did give rise to the actual September 11
attacks.
However, that was eight years ago. That was a long
time ago. Al Qaeda does not have bases or sanctuary
of any kind here in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda attacks
account for just mere percentage points out of the
bulk of the violence that's occurring here at the
hands of the Afghan Taliban.
Indeed, the U.S. military mission here is fighting a
war that no longer really has much to do with Osama
bin Laden or al Qaeda. They're across the border in
Pakistan's wild tribal areas.
Here in Afghanistan, this is a fight with the Afghan
Taliban, a very different organization to al Qaeda.
Extremist Islamic group, but one that cares only
about Afghanistan. The threat to America, you know,
many people argue -- is the countering that threat to
America's national security being answered by
fighting the war in Iraq today? People here on the
ground legitimately asking that, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: And how important do you think it is eight
years later that the U.S. military has not found or
captured Osama bin Laden?
WARE: Well, I mean, obviously, Osama bin Laden is an
extraordinary symbol for both sides of this conflict.
The fact he's still alive, the fact that he can still
be out there is an enormous symbolic achievement, a
victory for al Qaeda and its supporters. And
obviously, it's a bitter pill for the West to take,
knowing that he's still lurking out there somewhere.
However, operationally, effectively, here on the
ground, or in terms of al Qaeda's, you know,
international operations, it kind of doesn't matter.
Even if you capture Osama bin Laden tonight, once the
celebrations have died down, you'll find that there's
an al Qaeda that still continues without him, perhaps
in some ways even stronger.
I mean, al Qaeda is an organization designed for
loss. It's a network that's built knowing it's going
to lose its leadership and its members, so those
below are immediately ready to step up. It's
compartmentalized, fractured and broken up and
sprinkled across the world. So if they do lose their
leader Osama bin Laden, that doesn't necessarily mean
anything to the actual body of the al Qaeda terror
machine itself, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Michael Ware, great work this week. Thanks
so much.