Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

U.S. Marines Consolidate Their Hold on Kandahar's Airport

Aired December 15, 2001 - 17:02   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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Today, more huge plumes of smoke are seen in that region, as U.S. warplanes take aim at more al Qaeda targets. In the last two days alone, the U.S. has dropped more than 400 bombs on just that area.

Any al Qaeda fighters who surrender or are captured in Tora Bora will be put in a prison guarded by U.S. Marines.

CNN's Mike Chinoy reports it'll be just one of many challenges in a day in the life of a Marine in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Marines consolidate their hold over Kandahar airport, they may soon have a new role, prison guards. A detention center is being built at the airport. Its purpose, to hold up to 300 al Qaeda fighters if they should surrender or be captured at Tora Bora.

It's here that U.S. interrogators hope to question any detainees, seeking to learn more about the inner workings of Osama bin Laden's terror network. So far, the Marines' most prominent prisoner has been John Walker, the American fighting for the Taliban. Until Friday, he was held here at Camp Rhino south of Kandahar, possibly in this container.

Those who saw him regularly said he was confined to a stretcher, recovering from a gunshot wound and responded to questions with one syllable answers. Now he's been airlifted to the U.S.S. Peleliu in the Arabian Gulf. So far, we're told, he hasn't shaved the beard he grew to demonstrate his Islamic faith and his support for the Taliban.

Meanwhile, operations at this remote base, where the Marines first deployed in Afghanistan, are starting to wind down.

(on camera): Having served its purpose, Marine officers say it's simply too much of a logistical nightmare to continue to maintain Camp Rhino.

(voice-over); The camp sits in the middle of the desert. The Marines have been forced to fly in 3,000 gallons of water a day. Not to drink, but just to keep the dust down so that the air strip remains operational. Even so, helicopters, transport planes and other sensitive equipment have been stretched to the limit, as have the troops working in this forbidding terrain.

The plan is to move the whole operation to Kandahar Airport. Conditions there now remain grim, and there's concern about possible attacks from Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, who've melted into the surrounding local population.

But every night, the Marines are flying in reinforcements. And once the facility in Kandahar is secure, repaired and fully operational, officers say the Marines will hand over to the U.S. Army and then leave Afghanistan, their mission accomplished.

Mike Chinoy with the U.S. Marines in southern Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com