[Miles O'brien, Cnn Anchor:] First, a little bit more about what is happening inside Afghanistan. For that we turn to CNN's Nic Robertson. He is he just across the border in Pakistan Nic.
[Nic Robertson, Cnn Correspondent:] Well Miles, just a couple of hours ago, before sunset, we were able to get across into Afghanistan, into territory that was, until a few hours ago, controlled by the Taliban. This is the border town of Spin Boldak. What we found there was quite a chaotic situation. A lot of armed men on the street. Perhaps just as many as there would have been under Taliban times. There's certainly a lot of men with machine guns large machine guns and shoulder-launched rockets wandering and the town. It was somewhat chaotic, but at the same time it seemed relatively peaceful. And people were putting up red, green and black flags. These are flags that show their loyalty to the exiled king, Zahir Shah. Now, in the town of Spin Boldak and it should be remembered Spin Boldak is a fairly small town three are tribes who've negotiated with the Taliban to take over control of the town. Not all the sort of differences between the tribes over who controls what, where, when and how has been worked out. But at the moment, the tribal leaders there tell us the situation is peaceful. They also say, most interestingly, that when the Taliban left they were disarming the Taliban before the Taliban left. This is a somewhat different picture to what we've heard coming from our sources inside Kandahar. Kandahar, in the early part of the day, we are told, was chaotic. There was random looting throughout the town of aid agencies, of civilian properties. Then the forces of the commander who is now in control of Kandahar, Commander Mullah Naqib, his forces came into town and began to restore some semblance of order. Then later in the day, other tribal forces entered the town as well. They were also carrying flags showing their support for the exiled king. The situation there that we're hearing about now, although we are told it is somewhat more peaceful in Kandahar now, it is also a little bit confusing. The picture emerging, some strange details; we're told the commander who had been fighting outside of Kandahar for the airport Commander Gullah Lai has now moved himself into the governor's building inside Kandahar, and has announced himself governor. Also, we know that Mullah Naqib's forces have also taken over the key militarily buildings and some of the other administrative buildings inside Kandahar. But the general picture emerging from these areas the Taliban have now left is one of the calm being restored after a very troublesome start to the day Miles.
[O'brien:] CNN's Nic Robertson in Pakistan, thank you very much. As Taliban fighters gives up their major cities in Afghanistan, troops in Tora Bora are said to be putting up a tough fight against anti-Taliban forces. CNN's Brent Sadler is close to the action in eastern Afghanistan. Here's the latest from him.
[Brent Sadler, Cnn Correspondent:] Signs of progress by anti-Taliban tanks supporting the offensive to take Tora Bora: the high-altitude mountain hideout of well-armed, well-entrenched al Qaeda defenders. After three days of static fire, the tanks move forward, looking for a better shot. Supporting ground troops inching toward their objective. Al Qaeda's first line of defense appears to have crumbled after more than a week of sustained U.S. bombing. The latest American airstrikes have been the heaviest since the ground attack began, the sound of powerful explosions echoing down the valley. The intensity of bombing coincides with the appearance of a possible deployment of unidentified special forces, moving with guides and equipment heading up the valley in the direction of Tora Bora. As American warplanes target mountain positions, al Qaeda fighters are using mortars and machine guns in an attempt to beat back the assault. [on camera]: No one expects this to be an easy conquest, and al Qaeda fighters, mostly of Arab origin, it's thought, are refusing radio appeals to surrender, threatening a fight to the death. Brent Sadler, CNN, Agam in the White Mountains of eastern Afghanistan.
[O'brien:] It appears, two months after the fighting began in and over Afghanistan, the end game is underway. The end game can be a very tricky one, indeed, as we focus on a couple of people: Omar and bin Laden by name. We turn now to our Major General Don Shepperd, retired U.S. Air Force military analyst for CNN. Good to have you with us, General Shepperd.
[Maj. Gen. Don Shepperd , Cnn Military Analyst:] Morning, Miles.
[O'brien:] Let's talk about Kandahar first, and Mullah Omar. In Kandahar, there are reports of looting, of chaos in the wake of the change of power there. This is a particularly tenuous time in any engagement, isn't it? What should U.S. forces be wary of?
[Shepperd:] Well, they should be wary of everything that's going on there, and very suspicion of any attempts to surrender, any people approaching them to surrender. We saw what happened in Mazar-e Sharif. A surrender is a very difficult time. Neither side quite knows what to do. The people trying to surrender don't know whether to lay down their arms and walk out, walk out with a flag up; they don't know, if they lay down their arms, how they're going to be treated by the other side. The other side doesn't know how to separate them from their arms, or exactly where to take them. So there's a period of chaos that goes on there while each side is feeling each other out, and people are then allowed to surrender. But, again, it could very well be that people within this group that are surrendering the regular Taliban, the hard-core Taliban, the foreign Taliban, the al Qaeda, could have plans to do something like they did at Mazar-e Sharif, or even more dramatic. So our soldiers, when they're involved in any operations with these people, must be very careful and very suspicious.
[O'brien:] Now, you mentioned that prison uprising in Mazar-e Sharif. And the U.S. was involved in the peripheries there. But nevertheless, a CIA agent was killed in that uprising. How actively engaged, typically, would the U.S. be in the gathering of prisoners and anything in a post-changeover of power like this?
[Shepperd:] Well, we are not in charge of this surrender, if you will. But clearly our special forces are there, and assisting. And I assume also, although it has not been announced, that our CIA would play similar roles to what was played in Mazar-e Sharif. What the U.S. and the coalition want, is they want information and they want people. We want the top Taliban leaders, the al Qaeda fighters and leaders, and we want Mullah Omar and we want bin Laden. And so we will do everything we can to get our hands on these people and actively participate. But again, we're not in charge of the surrender. It's a coordination and liaison role that we're playing right now.
[O'brien:] So we should not presume, just because the Marines are to the west of Kandahar, that they would become directly engaged in any sort of surrender activities?
[Shepperd:] No, it appears so far they have not been engaged in active combat as far as the taking of Kandahar goes. At least, that's what we've heard so far. We'll be listening intently to the Pentagon briefing as Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers or General Pace describe the action. It's the Marines have been acting as a blocking force so far. They've received people that have been injured, and that type of thing. They've acted as a base for insertion of other forces. But they have not been actively involved in the combat for the city. So it remains to be seen what role they will actually play in this surrender. But they will have to be very, very careful if they're brought in to accept surrender or accept prisoners. It's a dicey and dangerous time.
[O'brien:] General, I guess one of the big concerns is that these Taliban fighters will simply melt into the mountains and just be there, lurking. Might be very difficult for anyone to separate the wheat from the chaff, if you will.
[Shepperd:] Evidently, already happening, Miles. It appears that many of the Taliban have disappeared, and many of the al Qaeda are disappearing. There's lots of places to hide, as we've been told, in Oruzgan Province, north of Kandahar. And, of course, the Marouf area, and north of Spin Boldak and southeast of Kandahar, one of the allegedly places we were looking for bin Laden. So there's lots of places to hide. Many of them will try get across the porous border into Pakistan, hoping to receive sympathy in that area from the Pashtun people that are in there, and naturally sympathetic to the causes. But they also now have the Pakistani military looking after them, as well as us actively pursuing them. They're going to find it very, very difficult; but it may take a long time to root them out all over the country.
[O'brien:] General Shepperd, sir, thank you very much for the briefing, as always. Major General Don Shepperd, retired U.S. Air Force, is one of our military analysts, and we always appreciate his insights.