Military

DATE=1/11/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=AFGHAN/PENTAGON (L ONLY)

NUMBER=2-285149

BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA

DATELINE=PENTAGON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is disputing suggestions he is dissatisfied with Afghanistan's interim leaders because some senior Taleban officials have been set free. More from V-O-A Pentagon Correspondent Alex Belida.

TEXT: Mr. Rumsfeld tells reporters he is not frustrated. He says he finds the new interim government headed by Hamid Karzai most cooperative and just as interested as the United States in ridding Afghanistan of Taleban and al-Qaida leaders.

///RUMSFELD ACTUALITY///

No. I'm not frustrated or concerned. I am finding the government very cooperative.

///END ACTUALITY///

Mr. Rumsfeld says Afghan officials are focused on the problem of detained Taleban leaders. But he acknowledges there appear to have been some instances in which Taleban officials have managed to avoid detention.

///RUMSFELD ACTUALITY///

Is it a perfectly tidy place? No. Is everyone doing exactly what one might hope they might do? No. But is the interim government focused on this problem roughly the way we are? You bet they are. And I feel quite good about it.

///END ACTUALITY///

Mr. Rumsfeld gives no details. But he was asked specifically about reports that several Taleban leaders, some of them considered senior, were allowed to go free in the Kandahar area.

He says he cannot verify those reports.

///RUMSFELD ACTUALITY///

I've tried to track down these fascinating stories I've been reading in the press and hearing debated on television, and I am not able to do so.

///END ACTUALITY///

Mr. Rumsfeld says it could be that the reports were based on mistaken information about individuals who were in fact never in custody.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, says there may also have been confusion over the identities of some released who had either the same names or similar names to Taleban leaders. (Signed)

NEB/BEL/PT