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CNN Live Saturday

Latest U.S. Bombings Hope to Root Out al Qaeda, Taliban Holdouts

Aired March 02, 2002 - 12:01   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Sources say the latest military operation in Afghanistan could last for some time. It's aimed at rooting out al Qaeda and Taliban holdouts in eastern Afghanistan.

CNN's Brian Palmer joins us live from Kabul -- good day there, Brian.

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Fredricka.

The battle is still raging in Paktia Province between on the one side Afghan forces backed by U.S. military personnel. On the other side, personnel forces from al Qaeda Taliban. That according to the ministry of defense here in Afghanistan and the Pentagon.

Now, the U.S. started bombing a little over 24 hours ago with B- 52s apparently softening up these targets. Civilians say that's when they started hearing bombing in the area. Civilians who have come up to Kabul from this region, from the capital city of that province, Gardez, say they saw the U.S. forces racing to the scene of the fighting in their vehicles.

Now, we have spoken to Reuters, which has dispatched some of their personnel to the area. They say that they have interviewed soldiers, those soldiers saying that they are retreating. These are Afghan soldiers, who are saying that they are facing a Taliban force or possibly an al Qaeda force larger than they expected.

Now, CNN just spoke to the secretary of Wazir Khan, who is one of the warlords in that area. He says that his forces, along with American forces, have cornered some Arabs. They are not very specific about the numbers. So these might not be conflicting reports. There's just a lot going on on the ground now. We are trying to collect as much information as possible -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Well, Brian, I understand things are very iffy at this point. It's hard to sort out some of the facts. But are you getting an indication from those you have spoken to exactly how large of a force we are talking about, when you talk about the Taliban or al Qaeda forces? It was larger than expected, you mentioned. But are they saying a matter of dozens or hundreds?

PALMER: Reuters was saying -- and this is again from a single source that we have. Reuters was saying up to 5,000. We were told that the Afghan troops on the American side had to -- had up to about 500 to 600. We have also heard as many as 1,000. So even if you take the upper end of that estimate, they would still be outnumbered by the estimated number, again, the estimated number of al Qaeda and Taliban forces -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks very much -- Brian Palmer reporting from Kabul.

And now for more on the fighting against Afghanistan or in Afghanistan, we want to now check in with Jonathan Aiken, who is at the Pentagon with information coming out of the Pentagon there -- hi there, Jonathan. What's the response from the Pentagon right now?

JONATHAN AIKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Fredricka. I want to pick up on what Brian said. As is the U.S. military's wont, they not getting very specific with us, at least not at the moment, when it comes to how many people are on the ground on either side.

The first reports that we had from military sources, who talked to CNN early this morning, was that they were talking about several hundred al Qaeda and Taliban fighters were holed up in this area. And I want to throw this map up again, so people can get an idea of where we are talking about. A rugged area of eastern Afghanistan, heavily mountainous, snow has fallen in that region, and this is all happening not far from the Gardez and Paktia Province, as Brian mentioned. This is an area, we are told, where al Qaeda and Taliban fighters have been holed up for some time and been regrouping, especially over the past several weeks, not only in eastern Afghanistan, but also on the Pakistan side of the border.

We are also told by Pakistan military officials, and this message relayed to us through the U.S. military, that Pakistan has closed off at least 600 miles of border in that area trying to prevent al Qaeda and Taliban forces from fleeing.

We were told that there were about 600 Afghan forces with the help of some U.S. operation groups on the ground. Now, these aren't necessarily Special Forces, but if there were airstrikes, the odds are there were Americans on the ground helping to set up logistics for those airstrikes and helping to call them in.

Now, we are told what's been happening, and Brian alluded to it, that there were helicopters that were rushing to the scene. U.S. transport choppers have been busy through the day, and we are told that soon elements of the 101st Airborne Division will be leaving Kandahar, or perhaps may have already left, and in fact will be heading up into this region. And they will be joined by U.S. Special Forces that are coming from a base that they have operated from for some time in Khowst, which is not far from Gardez.

So what's happening is that U.S. troops in the region are being brought into this area, Fredricka, but we don't have a firm number in terms of how many are on each side. But as Brian mentioned, then fighting is said to be stiff, the resistance said to be heavy, and we are told the al Qaeda and Taliban are right now defending the high ground with mortars and heavy machine gun fire.

WHITFIELD: And, Jonathan, are we getting any indication about a timeline, you know, this intensified effort throughout the evening or, you know, into tomorrow? What if anything is being forecast for us?

AIKEN: Nothing specific, and, you know, the military usually doesn't like to tell us the end time, the end game of anything. But what they have said is that the bombing, as Brian mentioned, began about 24 hours ago. The bombing stopped for some time, but there were still reports from the area that there were heavy U.S. planes, heavy bombers being heard overheard, though nobody at the time had heard any ordnance. So we are still waiting to hear whether or not any more bombs indeed have fallen in the region.

WHITFIELD: OK. Thanks very much, Jonathan.

AIKEN: Sure.

WHITFIELD, Jonathan, we'll be checking with you throughout the morning and afternoon -- thanks a lot.

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