Rumsfeld and Franks briefing at US Central Command

(28 Nov 2001) 1. Wide shot of Donald Rumsfeld at press briefing 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Rumsfeld, US Defence Secretary: "The Taliban and the al-Qaida situation is a difficult one. Some of their strongholds are falling, their communications are being disrupted, their leaders are being forced to move across the country to stay alive. The President has said that we are tightening the noose around the Taliban and al-Qaida and reducing the amount of real estate that they have to move around in. We will pursue them until they have nowhere else to run." 3. General Franks pointing at map of Afghanistan on wall 4. Rumsfeld at podium 5. SOUNDBITE (English) General Tommy Franks, Commander US Central Command: "Kandahar is a very confused place right now. And we see evidence that a great many people of a non-Afghan type are working very hard to get out of Kandahar. We have applied pressure to the city of Kandahar, both from the North and from the South by Southern tribal elements. And that's where it stands right now. We have gone through this intentionally not striking high-collateral targets. That strictly includes Kandahar. We do not intend to go in and just bomb the city of Kandahar." 6. Wide of Franks and Rumsfeld 7. SOUNDBITE (English) General Tommy Franks, Commander US Central Command: "I can give you a bit more specificity on that, but not certainly anything final. We have identified more than 40 places which represent potential for WMD (weapons of mass destruction) research or things of that sort. Of those, a great many are currently under opposition leadership control and we're very systematically going about our way of visiting each one of those, as I think the Secretary has said. And we'll continue to visit them until we have gone through all of them and have performed the analyses that we need to perform to assure ourselves that we do not have evidence of WMD." 8. Rumsfeld at podium 9. SOUNDBITE (English) General Tommy Franks, Commander US Central Command: "What we have found in a variety of laboratories is laboratory sorts of paraphernalia. We have found a variety of chemical compositions and these sorts of things. And one would also be able to associate that with the making of fertiliser or the making of any other sort of product. And when I said that it would take some time, that's what I'm talking about." 10. Rumsfeld at podium STORYLINE: The United States has identified more than 40 sites inside Afghanistan where they say loyalists to Osama bin Laden may have been conducting research on chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, the U.S. war commander said Tuesday. Army Gen. Tommy Franks said these sites are now under control of anti-Taliban forces and are being systematically checked by U.S. authorities for evidence of weapons of mass destruction. He said some of the facilities are laboratories where "paraphernalia, a variety of chemical compositions and these sorts of things" were discovered. He said it was possible the items were for legitimate research and that it would take at least a couple of days to get the first sample tests results. Officials at U.S. President George W. Bush's administration have said they take seriously claims by bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist network that they have pursued development of weapons of mass destruction. Franks appeared at a news conference in Tampa with U.S. Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who flew there to visit U.S. Central Command, and whose headquarters is at nearby McDill Air Force Base. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...