AARON ON "PAULA ZAHN NOW" (8:02pm ET) - MARCH 18, 2004

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PAULA ZAHN NOW
Pakistan Surrounds Al Qaeda Compound;
Interview With General Richard Myers
Aired March 18, 2004 - 20:00 ET

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COLLINS: All that ahead tonight.

But, first, here's what you need to know right now.

The sun is now rising in Pakistan. You see it there. And that means a significant airstrike could happen at any time. At stake, perhaps the capture of one of the world's most wanted terrorists. Pakistani troops near the border with Afghanistan believe they have surrounded al Qaeda's No. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahri. He's believed to be Osama bin Laden's closest confidante. The troops have been battling more than 200 well trained and well equipped al Qaeda fighters who are apparently trying to prevent his capture.

"NEWSNIGHT"'s Aaron Brown has been covering today's developments and he has also spoken exclusively with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. He joins us now live from Islamabad.

Aaron, good evening. AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good evening or good morning, depending on where you are in the world.

The sun is just starting to come up. And if all is going to plan, and we can't confirm it is, but we can talk about what the plan was, at about this moment, there is an attack going on in a most inhospitable region on the Pakistan-Afghani border, where these 200 well trained and relatively speaking well armed al Qaeda fighters are entrenched. Or at least they were entrenched. There is always some concern on the Pakistani side and certainly I suspect over at the Pentagon, too, that overnight they tried to manage an escape, not into Afghanistan, which would be certain death for them, because the Americans are waiting, but trying to melt back into other parts of Pakistan.

All of this began about 12 hours or so ago when we sat down to interview the president of Pakistan. We expected, to be honest, that he would make some news. We did not expect, necessarily, he would make the kind of news that would dominate an entire's day reporting and perhaps change in a significant way the war on terror.

But when he uttered the sentences you are about to hear, news and the war on terror moved to the front page.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PAKISTANI PRESIDENT: And the Army has surrounded -- they surrounded the whole area. This is a perimeter of about 25, 30 kilometers. They've taken on the hill feature. Then, they have surrounded the whole area.

And now, including this day, this was completed by early morning, today. And they asked the locals, women and children, to move out, which many did. And then they started pounding the area with artillery and helicopters also.

BROWN: This is not some small firefight. This is heavy weaponry that is being brought to bear.

MUSHARRAF: Yes, yes.

But the resistance that is being offered by the people there, we feel that there may be a high value target. I can't say who. But they are giving pitched battle at the moment. They are not coming out in spite of the fact that we have pounded them with artillery.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Now, that high-value target may be al-Zawahri. It may not be. It may be someone lower than that or it may turn out to be it's no one at all. None of that we can know for sure.

What we know for sure is this sense that a major moment is under way. It may take days to play out. It may take hours. But it is under way as we talk to you from Pakistan -- Heidi. COLLINS: Aaron, let me just ask you, Musharraf, I'm sure, wants to be seen as cooperating in the war on terrorism. Isn't it in his best interest to play this up a little bit?

BROWN: Well, it's a more complicated question than you could imagine. Yes, he absolutely not only wants to be seen as cooperative in the war on terror. In many respects, he has been cooperative in the war on terror, at some political risk to himself.

There have been two attempts on his life since December. We drove on our way out to talk to him today past those spots where the suicide bombers tried to kill him. That's the first part of the question. The second part of the question is, is it in his interest to play it up? I think it is in his interest to be cooperative. There are a lot of reasons to be cooperative, and, you know, it is, from his perspective, his political perspective, one thing for al- Zawahri to be captured or killed.

That probably won't create for him any political problems at home. Now, if it were bin Laden, that's a different story. Bin Laden enjoys some support here. And that would be a very different matter. But if you're asking me in short do I think he's hyping the deal, my instinct says he's not hyping the deal. But that's my instinct.

COLLINS: All right, Aaron Brown, thanks so much, live from Islamabad tonight. We sure do appreciate it.

Stay with CNN for the latest on the hunt for Ayman al-Zawahri. And you can catch the full interview with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on "NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN" at 10:00 Eastern time.

Paul Zahn Now Transcript page

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