THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're now going to go back to the war on terrorism. As we have just reported, the makeshift prison at the Kandahar airport is open for business. 15 al Qaeda fighters captured during the fighting at Tora Bora are now being held there while FBI agents interrogate the prisoners, U.S. Special Forces continue to comb the caves that al Qaeda forces left behind.
CNN's Amanda Kibel is in Kandahar, having just returned from a day touring the caves. Amanda, describe to us what you saw.
AMANDA KIBEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Paula, the area that we were taken to today is about 10 kilometers north of Kandahar. What we saw there was basically a series of caves in the mountains in this area. The caves that we saw were stockpiled with literally hundreds and thousands of weapons and munitions of different kinds and different calibers. These weapons and munitions, we were told, had been left behind by al Qaeda fighters as the fled Kandahar when the U.S. bombing here began.
The Afghan government, right now, under former mujahideen commander Ishmael Galani (ph), have begun to clear these caves now. They've begun to take the weapons and munitions down to a depot down in Kandahar. They will eventually turn these weapons into the Afghan government, and they say that the weapons will then be used in the new Afghan army. But basically, the area we saw today was an al Qaeda stronghold, we were told. It was an area which Osama bin Laden and his fighters lived in for many months, many years, even.
We were shown a house that Osama bin Laden lived in. We were told that he lived there at certain periods when he felt threatened. It was something of a hideout for him. We were also told that it was from this house, in fact, that Osama bin Laden left Kandahar when the U.S. bombing here began -- Paula.
ZAHN: Hard to believe, when you're seeing these pictures for the first time how much ammunition was there. Give us -- give us a better perspective on what this represents.
KIBEL: I'm sorry, Paula, I'm going to have to ask you to repeat that, please, I'm having problems.
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: Yeah, obviously -- yeah, I know. This is tough live shot to carry out. Just tell us, once again, about the amount of ammunition found there.
KIBEL: Well, Paula, there were literally thousands of munitions of different calibers, and I would say hundreds and thousands of weapons of different sorts. We saw cave after cave after cave piled high to the ceiling with weapons and munitions, and we were told that the entire mountain area, which stretches for kilometers, was piled with munitions and weapons.
In Osama bin Laden's house, we saw probably about 1,000 weapons and munitions just in the small two roomed house. So, certainly, there was a lot of stockpiling going on, and the commanders that we were with told us that it seemed to indicate that Osama bin Laden and his fighters were stockpiling for a fight.
They were ready for some kind of battle, and the way that the munitions had been stockpiled, they were basically spread out all along the mountain, all along the roads. It seemed that they were going to fight some kind of retreating battle. They were waiting for some kind of battle, and the munitions they had ready were basically going to be implemented in that battle.
So, plenty of munitions, plenty of weapons, and, certainly, it looked like, according to the commanders here, al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden were ready to fight to the end -- Paula.
ZAHN: Those pictures were stunning. Amanda Kibel. Thanks so much for that report.
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