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CNN Live At Daybreak

Villagers Note Decrease in Military Activity Around Shah-e-Kot

Aired March 12, 2002 - 05:02   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And let's get more now on the war on terrorism and Operation Anaconda in the eastern Afghanistan mountains.

Our Nic Robertson has been as close as a mile from the front lines. He's near Gardez right now -- hello, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, hello. I'm in a village called Spintak, and that is the closest village to Shah-e-Kot. Shah-e-Kot, of course, has been the village that's been at the focus of Operation Anaconda, where many al Qaeda and Taliban sympathizers are suspected of hiding out.

Now, there is no bombing in this area today and we've talked to villagers here high in the mountains, about 8,000 feet up in the mountains, just close to Shah-e-Kot. They say that there's been no operations here. Within about the last 18 hours they say that they've noticed a marked decrease in the activity in this area. They said up until then there had been regular bombing raids in this area and in towards the village of Shah-e-Kot.

Also on the front lines today we have seen some Chinooks and some Black Hawks heading up high into the mountains from the front lines from a forward U.S. special forces base. But we have heard no detonations from bombs ourselves and seen no artillery being used in this area. There are tanks that were brought up here by reinforcements yesterday. They appear not to be active at this time. And all those reinforcements have moved forward into the mountains.

So a quiet day, a day for consolidation, apparently, following the bombing of the last nine days -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So it's safe to say that ground troops will soon be going into those caves to root out the remaining al Qaeda and Taliban people inside there, Nic?

ROBERTSON: That certainly seems to be the case. The ground troops who had been massed near the forward positions have now moved forward of that today and are now in the mountains. We've seen them being resupplied along the ridge lines in the mountains and just where we are now, about five miles up the valley, the closest village to Shah-e-Kot, which was the center of the Taliban and al Qaeda activity here, it is very, very quiet, unlike in the recent days. And although we cannot see clearly down into the valley to see exactly what is happening, from our vantage point we have seen troops and vehicles headed up in that direction into the mountains, Carol.

COSTELLO: Does anyone have any idea how many enemy troops are inside those caves now?

ROBERTSON: That's unclear. Earlier the earlier local Afghan officials had put the figure of likely numbers of al Qaeda and Taliban over 1,000. So far the Pentagon believes that over 600 have been killed, almost 500 confirmed killed, and certainly the Afghan commanders that we've talked to say they cannot verify those figures, but they do say they believe them to be correct.

They have not produced prisoners for us to see. They have not produced dead bodies for us to see, so it's very difficult to ascertain exactly how many people have been killed.

But certainly if the original estimates were correct, given to us by Afghan officials, there would still be several hundreds of people here. However, it has to be said we haven't seen them and it's possible they may have left this area and now fit into the wider Afghan community. But it is difficult for us to say at this time. We do not have access. We do not have free passage to Shah-e-Kot, the village that's been at the center of the air activity -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We can certainly understand that.

Thank you, Nic Robertson, talking to us live by phone from near Gardez in Afghanistan.

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