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CNN Live At Daybreak

Anaconda Finished

Aired March 19, 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: We are going to go live now to Bagram Air Base and talk about the war on terror because Operation Anaconda has just wrapped up as promised.

Martin Savidge is there to bring us the very latest -- and this is your last day there, right, Martin?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is my last day in Afghanistan, at least I think it's my last day in Afghanistan. One thing about Afghanistan is you never really know.

But let's get into Operation Anaconda. This was definitely the last day. Operation Anaconda officially has come to a close. It ended with what is referred to as the exfiltration of U.S. and Canadian forces. There were about 500 of them that remained overnight on the upper mountains of the lower Shah-e-Kot Valley, very rugged, very difficult terrain.

General Buster Hagenbeck, who is the commander of the 10th Army, who is basically in charge of Operation Anaconda, made the final announcement this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. FL. HAGENBECK, U.S. ARMY SPOKESMAN: Operation Anaconda is over. It ended last night and this morning when we exfiltrated the remaining Canadian and U.S. forces who were exploiting the valleys in Objective Remington and south of the Shah-e-Kot Valley.

The world is a safer place than it was on the 2nd of March when we inserted several thousand coalition forces, including soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, to put their lives on the line to confront al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: It was still a very difficult operation right up till the very end. Of course, the heaviest fighting was that which we saw in the very first days, beginning after March 2nd, when U.S. forces came up on very stiff resistance of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters. They did not expect as many to remain in the area and take on the U.S. soldiers as did. In the end, they claimed that they have killed several hundred, perhaps as many as 500. Figures claiming to be as high as 1,000, they think, are really not quite accurate. But they believe that they had delivered, in the words of the general, a severe body blow to the Taliban and al Qaeda forces in the region of the lower Shah-e-Kot Valley. That is not to say, and this is something he underlined, that the war in Afghanistan is over or that there will be no future operations by other U.S. or coalition forces. There will be.

In fact, plans are already being made for other operations in other parts of this nation. There will be more fights. In fact, there was more fighting last night even as the troops were preparing to leave. There was still some remaining Taliban forces that decided to get in their last shots. They paid dearly for it. They were killed. And as of this morning when they were leaving, still blowing up bunkers, still destroying large supplies of weapons that have been left behind by al Qaeda -- back to you.

COSTELLO: As President Bush said, it will be a long war, not only in Afghanistan but abroad, as well.

Marty, since this is your last day, tell us what your lasting impression will be of Bagram Air Base?

SAVIDGE: Well, I think the most, the most deepest impression, obviously, is going in with those forces on that first mission, the first days of Operation Anaconda. Unlike previous conflicts that I've covered before, usually you're on the periphery or you're on your own and there's always an avenue of escape, a means of getting out if things get too difficult.

You go in with the military or any military force, embedded as we were, there is no escape. When bad things happen, when things start to look a little dark, you realize that you are there till the end no matter how the end may result. So I think that was one of the toughest things to reconcile, flying out in the middle of the night with tracer fire coming in at the landing zone, that's another difficult thing.

But it's been a remarkable journey going from the manmade canyons of New York City and the twisted horror of the World Trade Center to now to the raging battles in the valleys of Afghanistan. I sat there and cried with victims and stood with soldiers -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And gave us a lot of moving stories, to boot. Thank you.

Have a safe trip home. We'll catch you a little later on in the DAYBREAK show.

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