COMPLETE COVERAGE | FRONT LINES | AMERICA AT HOME | INTERACTIVES »

Amanpour: Taliban increasingly defiant

CNN's Christiane Amanpour

(CNN) -- Bombs fell in Afghanistan after daylight for the second straight day Wednesday, and with the United States claiming air superiority, daylight raids could come regularly.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour is in Islamabad, Pakistan, monitoring the military situation in the region.

AMANPOUR: There have been more air raids on Afghanistan. We spoke to our sources there in Kandahar who said the last one was about six hours ago, and they're obviously bracing for more tonight.

CNN.COM SPECIAL REPORT  CNN NewsPass Video  Agencies reportedly got hijack tips in 1998  MORE STORIES Intelligence intercept led to Buffalo suspects Report cites warnings before 9/11  EXTRA INFORMATION Timeline: Who Knew What and When? Interactive: Terror Investigation Terror Warnings System Most wanted terrorists What looks suspicious? In-Depth: America Remembers In-Depth: Terror on Tape In-Depth: How prepared is your city?  RESOURCES On the Scene: Barbara Starr: Al Qaeda hunt expands? On the Scene: Peter Bergen: Getting al Qaeda to talk

From the Taliban, we have had increasingly defiant statements. The Taliban is saying they have lifted their supposed restrictions on Osama bin Laden since the airstrikes began and that he is now free to conduct jihad, or what he calls holy war. The Taliban also are saying he is alive and well, but they don't know where he is, just that he is in Afghanistan.

The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan continues to say that their air defenses have not been crippled and continues to say that they don't believe al Qaeda is a terrorist organization.

Of course there is a disconnect with that. Because while they're saying that, al Qaeda is sending out statements from television stations based in Afghanistan, saying that they support those attacks on the United States and calling for more attacks on the United States.

In another issue, there have been reports here in Pakistan of Taliban militias conflicting and confronting with Pakistani militias on the border and also of Taliban helicopters coming over from Afghanistan.

We asked the Pakistani interior minister last night about that. He said the helicopters had tried to come over, but they had turned them back and refused to allow them entry or landing rights here in Pakistan. He didn't know why they were coming over, not with hostile intent he said, but maybe to save their remaining gunships or bring their Taliban leaders out.