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American Morning

Al Qaeda, Taliban Put Up Fierce Resistance

Aired March 06, 2002 - 09:02   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: "Up Front" this morning, though, horrifying details are just starting to emerge on the deadliest fighting in the war in Afghanistan.

As a chopper carrying U.S. servicemen retreated from heavy enemy fire, one of them, Navy SEAL Petty Officer Neil Roberts fell to the ground. Before the U.S. could return to rescue him, three al Qaeda fighters dragged him away and executed him. Helpless U.S. commanders watched surveillance video an unmanned plane circling overhead.

CNN's Martin Savidge joins us now with more from Bagram -- Good morning, Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula.

That scene -- that what you talk about there is amplified by the fact, that, yes, they were able to see it happen in real time, and that is something -- doesn't matter how hardened you are as a military person, you would never, ever want to have to witness.

As for the operation, Operation Anaconda, it is still in full swing, still ongoing. No one is saying exactly when it is going to come to an end. It is described as air brigade assault, or brigade air assault. And what does that mean outside of military parlance? Well, it basically means that is one big operation. An operation said to be not only the largest in the Afghan campaign here, but the largest sort of military operation of its kind since Desert Storm.

It also means that all of the troops and all of their equipment is inserted by air. Specifically, they are using the CH-47 helicopter. That's the twin rotor helicopter, looks like -- very much like a flying bus, only painted green. It is very good at this particular operation, because keep in mind, much of this fighting and much of the insertion taking place about two miles up on mountain sides. These helicopters are very adapted, they can carry about 40 to 45 troops, heavily armed with their ammunition.

Everyone is packed inside of one of these CH-47s, literally piled, in some cases, one on top of the other. And the soldiers will tell you, going in and getting out is the most frightening time of all of their operation because when you're in that aircraft, and especially when they are counting down saying, five minutes, one minute until touchdown, then they know when they hit the ground they are sitting ducks for even someone with a rifle or especially to mortar fire. They want to get out, and they want to get out in a hurry. And they do accomplish that in a matter of moments, and then the helicopter roars off.

The troops we were with, once they got on the ground, their primary goal, going after the caves. We've heard a lot about these caves, but now we actually got to see firsthand how the operation is done. These are not big, open, gaping holes. In many cases, they are small crevices, or cracks, very hard to spot, but when they are found, they go at them with shoulder-fired missiles.

They are firing a long distance up the mountainside there, but when they get a hit, they not only can kill those that may be hiding inside, but they want to close the caves down to make sure that someone doesn't come in afterwards, when the troops have moved on, and use that position once again.

So, it's a very intense operation, and it's one that requires a great deal of skill. After we moved off from destroying the caves, then we set up outside of a village that was thought to be a stronghold, and was a stronghold for al Qaeda and Taliban. We got there just about late afternoon.

By dusk, just as the U.S. forces dug in, when the Taliban came striking out of that village. First it began with AK-47 fire. It moved up, though, to heavy machine gun fire, and then came the mortars, and the mortars are fired with a great deal of accuracy. Soldiers -- U.S. soldiers say that they are surprised, not only by how well the mortars are used, but also that many of these Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda are very good shots. They weren't expecting that.

Still, U.S. forces didn't flinch, they didn't waiver under fire. They returned a lot of fire on their own and they had the ace in the hole, which was air superiority, and they used a lot of it. The firefight, that particular one, ended quickly once the jets began dropping the bombs.

Mentioned that CH-47, they are not impervious, despite how good an offensive weapon they can be. Small arms fire can be a problem, and in this particular case, for some of them was the RPG, a rocket propelled grenade.

It was during one such landing and off-loading that they came under fire. They quickly bolted back up in the air to get out of harm's way, and tragically, that is when the Navy SEAL was lost. He apparently fell out of the aircraft and fell into the hands of al Qaeda forces. This is how the commander of Operation Anaconda described what happened next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. F.L. HAGENBECK, CJTF COMMANDER: When they were inserting, they came under heavy fire to include three rocket propelled grenades that we know of for certain. Pitch black. They lifted off, and a crew member was knocked off the back end. I don't know if he was shot, if the impact of the rounds hitting on the helicopter caused him to fall out, or the sudden jerk of the helicopter when it lifted off, he was left behind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: One of the things about the use of the RPG, and they are about as plentiful as dust in this particular country, is that they are a missile that is fired -- almost from, like, a rifle. Now normally, they're a powerful weapon, but not an overwhelming weapon.

But al Qaeda and Taliban forces we saw used them as, sort of, flak. What they would do is, instead of firing them at a tank or a soldier on the ground, when the Apache helicopters or the CH-47s would come in, they would fire them in this air at maximum range, so that they would burst, creating almost this curtain of shrapnel that would enshroud helicopters.

Even the Apache, which is a sophisticated, heavily armed weapon, at times fell victim. At least four of the Apaches during the height of the battle, were knocked out of commission for a short while until they could be repaired and rejoin the fight. That's just the way they are, the al Qaeda and Taliban that we're up against right now -- Paula.

ZAHN: You have certainly given us the best sense of the kind of resistance U.S. troops are encountering over there. Thank you very much for that report. Martin Savidge reporting from Bagram this morning.

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