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CNN Live Saturday
U.S. Buildup at Kandahar Airport Underway
Aired December 29, 2001 - 18:06 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.
SAVIDGE: As we've been reporting, a U.S. buildup of supplies and army personnel at the Kandahar Airport is under way and is quickly turning that airstrip into a base of operations for U.S. forces in the region. Here to talk more about that is our military analyst Major General Don Shepperd. He joins us from Washington. General Shepperd, this base now at Kandahar, how many prisoners could it likely hold do you think?
DON SHEPPERD, MAJ. GEN. USAF (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: We're hearing from Bill Hemmer that it can hold about three times the number that are there - so let's say three to 500 prisoners. That's a lot of prisoners to keep track of Martin, especially if anything would happen, such as a jailbreak by some of their cohorts that are still loose out there in Afghanistan or if something could happen like happened up in Mazar-e Sharif or happened to the Pakistanis where they weren't armed, but they overpowered by the guards and took over their weapons.
The prisoners are dangerous wherever they are. If they get more than that number they're going to have to evacuate them to some other location reportedly right now Guantanamo the main choice.
SAVIDGE: As the number of detainees continues to rise, there is also talk of the transition of power, the marines handing it over to the 101st. What's the significance there?
SHEPPERD: Yes the 101st is an Air Mobile Division. They are the heavy forces that follow to the marines, which are lightly armed forces designed to secure objectives and then hand them over again to the army that stays after the marines leave for longer periods of time. They're very mobile. They can conduct operations on their own. They have lots of helicopters and can do things such as search for or take part in operations if Mullah Omar or even bin Laden or cells of al Qaeda are located around the Kandahar or other areas in Afghanistan Martin.
SAVIDGE: We said the number of detainees doubled today, but still the buildup has been relatively slow. Why does it take so long?
SHEPPERD: Well reportedly there are 3,000 prisoners across Afghanistan in about 30 different locations. Getting these people in physical health - some of them are injured, to be transported and then to interrogate them initially to sort them and get the important ones to Kandahar just simply takes time as well as the obvious concern for physical security of the guards that have been duked (ph) in at least two locations that we know of right now.
SAVIDGE: An interrogation can mean different things to different people depending on what country you're from. What exactly is an interrogation by the U.S. like?
SHEPPERD: Yes. Well we don't torture people. That's for sure. Other nations, by the way, do torture people, but we try to get these people to talk and sometimes kindness works; sometimes encouragement works; sometimes tremendous pressure works; sometimes threats work. Threats such as hey, your buddy just told us one thing about you and he says you're really the bad guy - a big chieftain here. We're going to use that against you and we're going to come against you with very heavy charges unless you cooperate -- much like what you see on TV.
In other cases, you may threaten these people with deporting them back to their home nations where they will surely face the death penalty. You might want to make a deal. You might even want to let some of them off without charges to get information - more important information from them. Again, it's much like you see in police work on TV and much of it will be carried out by the FBI, perhaps CIA, as well as military intelligence.
SAVIDGE: On another subject, Walter Rodgers reporting that the Afghanistan government right now is asking for a cessation of bombing on the part of the U.S.
SHEPPERD: Yes remember those requests would come from Hamid Karzai, the head of the interim government. Right now the requests are coming from tribal chiefs for their own reasons across the country. Now their own reasons are they want to be free to travel and do whatever they think is right. Our reasons for wanting air power in there is to conduct strikes if we get significant intelligence, the al Qaeda or Taliban forces are there, and in some cases they may be mixed in with the population or tribal leaders. So we have competing priorities there and much to sort out before there is any cessation of airstrikes by U.S. forces. I predict it'll be a long time before that happens.
SAVIDGE: And finally, we know the brewing situation between India and Pakistan, the threat of all-out war. How does that complicate or endanger perhaps the U.S. mission?
SHEPPERD: Yes very serious. We don't want the Pakistan troops withdrawn from the western border where they're looking for escaping al Qaeda and senior Taliban and also searching for them in the western part of Pakistan itself. We also don't want to lose their security around our bases, which we're using within Pakistan and we don't want to lose our over flight rights that are essential to the air power going into Afghanistan. So this is very serious as well as the threat, of course, of nuclear conflict between these two nuclear armed nations.
SAVIDGE: It's a very tense situation and one we'll continue to watch with your help. Thank you General Don Shepperd.
SHEPPERD: Good night. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
