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CNN Live At Daybreak

Fighting Seems One Way In Operation Anaconda Now

Aired March 11, 2002 - 05:17   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And we want to turn our attention now to Operation Anaconda in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Minutes ago we told you that our Nic Robertson reported heavy fighting has erupted once again after a lull of just a few days.

Our Martin Savidge is live at Bagram Air Base this morning, where U.S. troops have been returning from battle. What happened today, Martin?

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

Photographer Scott McWedy and myself spent another night in the box last night. Before you jump to any conclusions, the box is what the soldiers refer to as the front lines or the lower Shah-e-Kot Valley, which is where all this fighting has been taking place.

We want to show you the run out on the helicopter. You take a CH-47. It takes about an hour and 10 minutes. It is one wild ride, let me tell you that, mainly because they fly nap of the earth. That is for their own protection. And they have to fly through, around, sometimes over and then dive back down the other side of many a mountain. They do that because they fear that there still could be some Taliban and al Qaeda forces out there armed with heavy machine guns or even SA-7 missiles, which could do a lot of damage to a CH-47 helicopter.

Out on the front lines yesterday, though, there was a lot of bombing you could hear, a lot of mortar fire that was coming down, and the hellfire missiles coming from the Apache helicopters. But that was fighting all one way, meaning coalition forces were doing all the hunting. There was very little that we heard coming back from al Qaeda or Taliban forces. And, in fact, they say that there are only pockets of resistance that are out.

Now, what is happening is a transition that's ongoing, coalition forces coming out, mainly Afghan forces now going in to take over the fighting that is going to be taking place over the next couple of days.

When you're out there, you talk to the soldiers of the coalition forces, especially the American soldiers, morale extremely high. They believe they won a great victory in the valley. We talked to one Private, Binoy, and he had very much the Twin Towers on his mind while he was out there. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PFC. JOSEPH BINOY, U.S. ARMY: It's a new experience. I haven't experienced this before. So I could go back and say I did something, you know? Because I've got family back in New York, I lost in the World Trade Center, too, you know? So at least they know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: What you watched today here was the return of many of the soldiers that have been out there for about nine days working Operation Anaconda. CH-47s, helicopters coming in in formation, landing and disgorging the number of soldiers. There were other friends waiting to greet them, welcome them back to camp, glad to see that they were safe and sound.

Their part of the operation is over but Operation Anaconda, as we say, is not done. Nic Robertson reporting that there is heavy fighting and that was to be expected as the Afghan military units went in. And they are being supported by U.S. troops.

This is tent city, by the way, where we're standing. This is the area where the soldiers live when they're not out in the field fighting. It also happens to be the place where we live when we're not out in the field covering them fighting -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, good enough.

Martin Savidge reporting from Afghanistan this morning. Thank you.

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