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CNN Live Saturday
Marines Take Positions in Southern Afghanistan
Aired December 01, 2001 - 16:01 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: As we have been reporting here, U.S. air attacks are not being confined now to the southern Afghan fringe, where Taliban forces are concentrated right now. But a leader of the Northern Alliance says that southern Afghanistan is exactly where the U.S. should be targeting its hunt for Osama bin Laden.
At a news conference today in Kabul, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the Northern Alliance Foreign Minister says that he believes bin Laden is making plans for guerrilla warfare in the southern Afghan mountains.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDULLAH ABDULLAH, NORTHERN ALLIANCE FOREIGN MINISTER: He's still inside Afghanistan. And his people active still. And I think they are planning to move towards the mountainous areas of Qalat (ph), Zabul Province, as well as Kandahar. So they are making preparations for a guerrilla warfare. This is our understanding or our reading of the situation with the Taliban, as well as Osama groups.
I believe that some of his lieutenants are in the Tora Bora, and some of his followers, but not he himself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Well, for the time being, a southern Afghan airstrip of the far outskirts of Kandahar is serving now as home base for 1,000 U.S. Marines.
CNN's Walter Rodgers is among a pool of journalists who are traveling those Marines. And he filed this report just moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are U.S. Marine light armored vehicles leaving their base to begin nightly reconnaissance patrols in southern Afghanistan. They passed the perimeter of their encampment, passed fellow Marines, dug in their motor and machine gun nests. And from here, the armored vehicles will fan out into the trackless Afghan desert, searching out the last pockets of the Taliban resistance moving northward.
In the Marines fighting holes, everyone in this 15th expeditionary unit knows why he is here. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what the American people want. And if they want me to get rid of these guys, I represent them. And absolutely, we're ready and we're willing to go.
RODGERS: There are many enemies out here beside the Taliban. Dust; thick choking clouds is another foe. Marines regularly have to clean their rifles and other weapons. Another serious enemy, the bitter cold of a December night in the Afghan desert.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The biggest thing that we have to fight at night is the cold.
RODGERS: But soldiering also has its rewards. The first of the month is the time for promotions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do appoint this Marine a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps.
RODGERS: The unit commander, Brigadier General James Mattis, visited Charley company, overseeing the first battlefield promotions in Afghanistan. Standing on an Afghan hillside, they swear to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Against all enemies?
RODGERS: The general also held a private chat with his men, a locker room pep talk. Except for these Marines, there are no locker rooms. There aren't even any showers. There is only dust, desert and cold.
The Marines now occupy a hillside near their makeshift air base, a position previously held by the Taliban before they were eliminated here in a fierce fight.
(on camera): Somewhere to the north of here, behind me, the Marines believe there are still pockets of Taliban resistance, tanks and other armored vehicles. Actual contact with the Taliban has been limited, but this is still a potential combat zone. And the Marines say they are on the ready 24/7.
Walter Rodgers with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit in southern Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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