|
 |
CNN LIVE TODAY
In Operation Anaconda, Allied Forces and Afghan Troops Battling Al Qaeda and Taliban Forces
Aired March 6, 2002 - 11:06 ET
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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The deaths there in Kabul an accident, However, that is not the case over in Gardez. That Operation Anaconda we've been following, enemy forces are taking a beating is what we're being told by allied forces. U.S. allied forces and Afghan troops are battling Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in eastern Afghanistan.
CNN's Martin Savidge was the only television reporter who was able to travel to the front lines with the troops, and he did so and filed this report from Bagram air base in Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Operation Anaconda is still going around the clock in eastern Afghanistan. And the forces of the coalition members continue to grow on the scene. U.S. commanders say that they are not feeling daunted by how initially it got off to a rocky start. Now they say that the Al Qaeda forces are definitely on the run, on the move, and have no place to go but into the hands of those coalition soldiers, waiting to greet them one way or another.
It was first started as air brigade assault. Essentially, that means one large military effort all conducted from the air using helicopters, large ones CH-47s, MH-47s. These are flying buses that transport the troops in. The soldier are packed inside with their weapons, with their ammunitions, everything else they may need, almost sitting one on top of the other, 40, 45, maybe more soldiers packed inside. Soldiers say that's their most frightening part of the combat journey, just before landing and just after taking off when they're done, because the helicopters on the ground are most vulnerable, so are the soldiers inside of them.
Once out, we followed these soldiers as they moved off to investigate and then destroy Taliban and Al Qaeda caves. The caves are often used by many of the mortar teams that are dropping the weapons on the coalition forces. They're hard to spot. Once they find them, soldiers use shoulder-launched missile, firing into the mountain face, destroying the cave itself, perhaps probably killing those that may still be inside.
They move on from cave to cave. After that, the operation we were following turns south, heading to the village of Shir Kantil (ph). This was thought to be a headquarters for both Taliban and Al Qaeda forces. The sooner had the U.S. and coalition troops set up on the ridge overlooking the village, suddenly they found themselves the middle of one big firefight. It began with small automatic weapon fire, AK-47s, then moved to machine gun, heavy machine gun fire, and then the mortars, but the coalition forces weren't daunted, and they weren't driven away from their post. Instead, they returned a similar amount of fire. Also, they called in air support, and that proved to be the trump card. Wave after wave of fighter bombers and B-52 bombers dropped almost an endless supply of heavy bombs and ammunitions on that village. It quickly brought an end to the firefight.
(on camera): U.S. forces and their commanders say they from the Taliban exactly where they want them, on the run, with no place left to go.
Martin Savidge, CNN, Bagram, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: About 1,200 U.S. and allied forces are involved in Operation Anaconda.
Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins us live with more on the operation.
Barbara, hello.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
Well, CNN has learned that a lot of combat power is now on the way to Afghanistan. More than a dozen Apache helicopter gunships are on their way to theater. They are expected to arrive imminently. They were asked for by the commander on the ground within the last several days as this fight erupted. They were not anticipated to have to go there. As I say, more than dozen apaches, and this comes on top of five other Apache helicopter gunships that were already there of. They had taken gunfire in the early days of the fight. They have now been repaired, and they are returning to the campaign.
The Apache is the Army's premier attack helicopter. It carries Hellfire anti-tank missiles, a 30 millimeter chain gun, rockets. It is being used in this campaign against enemy troop and weapon's positions. We have also learned the Air Force is sending four additional A-10 aircraft to the fight. These are close air-support aircraft that come in low over the battlefield, and they protect U.S. troops on the ground that are under enemy fire.
In addition, the Marine Corps is sending five Cobra gunships and additional troop transports. All of this will arrive in theater in eastern Afghanistan, we are told, imminently. This comes as more officials at the Pentagon are saying there was one surprise in this attack. They had anticipated that the Taliban and Al Qaeda would run, that they would try to escape, and that the U.S. forces would get them that way. Instead, of course, everyone has dug in. The Taliban and Al Qaeda appear to be fighting to the finish. The U.S. is bringing more firepower to deal with it -- Daryn. KAGAN: We're waiting for Pentagon briefing to begin sometime within the next hour. What will you listen for specifically during that briefing?
STARR: Well, I think Secretary Rumsfeld will be asked about the circumstances under which some of these men died in these two helicopter incidents earlier this week. Of course, last night we learned of the very tragic circumstances of Navy petty officer Neil Roberts, the Navy SEAL who apparently fell out of a helicopter, was then captured by enemy forces and executed. As far as anyone can remember, this has not happened in recent memory, that a U.S. servicemen has been taken captive and then executed in this fashion.
The Pentagon had not revealed this to reporters. They hadn't talked about to anybody. It came out in news media reports last night. We are led to believe that the young man's family is absolutely devastated that they had to learn about it that way. So it's possible that Secretary Rumsfeld will be asked some questions on this matter.
KAGAN: Yes, understandably. Thought going out to that family, Robert's family.
Barbara Starr, thank you. We will look for you at the Pentagon briefing. You always ask some of the best questions. Thank you much.
We are expecting the briefing to begin within the hour. Right now, they are saying about 11:30 a.m. Eastern, which would be about 17 minutes from now, 8:30 a.m. Pacific. When it happens, you'll see it live here on CNN.
HARRIS: In the meantime, we'll talk some more about what's happening over in Afghanistan.
Not only are the U.S. troops there fighting Al Qaeda and Taliban forces, they're also battling rugged conditions in the frigid mountains and caves of eastern Afghanistan. We got good picture of that. We've seen Martin Savidge out there.
CNN military analyst Major Don Shepperd joins us once again now to talk about the battle conditions of Operation Anaconda.
General, we were just talking moments ago, we actually saw some videotape of some of those mountains covered in snow.
MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Great videotape by Martin Savidge and his crew there. This is the first sense we've got of what these people are really undergoing in these combat conditions. Think of the Aspen and Vail ski areas, and that's the type of area these people aer fighting in, minus the trees. These are not heavily forested mountains that they're going into, and it's really, really rough conditions in there -- Leon.
HARRIS: Give us a walkthrough there. You're in the map room. Let's take advantage of that. Give us a walkthrough of what it is we're talking about right now. SHEPPERD: Yes, if I could come down on the map here. This area, as we have learned, is about 100 miles south of Kabul, and the key names down there are the city of Gardez. There's also another city of Khowst that we haven't put over here because it just blocks some of the scene.
This is very close to the Pakistan border, and it's an area of the Armar Mountains, this long mountain range right here, and again, think of the Aspen or Vail ski areas, and that's about what it's like. The Shahi Kot Valley is where this explosion symbol is. And in the Shahi Kot valley, you have roads running southeast and southwest out of Gardez and encircle this area. Supposedly, we have the roads blocked, and the people trapped in the mountains, but a lot in caves and well armed. Also very close to the border with Pakistan, if they can find a way to get across the roads can escape into Pakistan. And this is lawless area of pakistan, the area of Quetta down here. The area of Peshawar up here. This is the tribal area of Pakistan where they will find lots of support and lots of sympathy.
Rough fighting at high altitudes in snow-covered mountains. This is light infantry work, and it's tough work.
HARRIS: Let's me ask you something else. There's couple of reports to bounce off. One is about the concern that U.S. military officials have about Al Qaeda regrouping. They've gotten information, they say they've monitoring Internet traffic, indicating they see signs of that happening. And they also see signs of regrouping or retrenching of the Al Qaeda, Taliban forces, going back to some of old places bombed by some of the old training calls got there in Afghanistan and that region. What about that?
SHEPPERD: Indeed. Well, these are early reports, and I would say the Internet reports are a good guess. This is a report of a way to communicate that's open to them, whereas if they use radios or telephones in this area, it's easily monitored, so they probably are exchanging and trying to make plans on the fly.
Now General Franks yesterday in the briefing from Centcom, basically when he was asked, are they regrouping in this area, he said, said I don't know if they have the command and control mechanism to regroup or not, but they are communicating, and these are small cells of people, and they probably are going back to areas that they're familiar with, like the camps they trained in, to try an see if arms are there or not.
Wherever they go, it's apparent that the U.S. coalition military is going to pursue them, going ot pursue them to the end, Leon.
HARRIS: All right, good deal. Major General Don Shepperd, thanks very much as always for great insight -- Daryn.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Battling Al Qaeda and Taliban Forces>
|
|
|
|
|
