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CNN Live Saturday

U.S. Forces Having Tough Time

Aired March 09, 2002 - 22:15   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: And now from the front lines in the war on terror, U.S.-led forces are having a tough time, tougher than expected in fact, flushing out remaining al Qaeda fighters in the eastern Afghan mountains.

CNN's Bob Costantini has more on the challenges of Operation Anaconda.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB COSTANTINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Frustrating attempts to hit the enemy harder, the Pentagon says al Qaeda and Taliban fighters are not moving back and forth in the open as they had done previously. It's unclear how many remain, but Afghan reinforcements were rushing to the scene to help fight the enemy forces lodged in mountain positions.

JAMES WOOLSEY, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: It's curious and very interesting and in some ways fortuitous that we're able to take on a large number of these fighters, because they were flooding back into the area where we were already attacking.

COSTANTINI: The effort to eliminate the hold-outs has now been slowed, with the U.S.-led forces preferring to wait out what Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld admits is a well-supplied enemy.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I don't believe they are getting reinforcement or supplies. They do have a very large cache of supplies and weapons and ammunition inside those caves and tunnels. So they are not without ammunition or food or water.

COSTANTINI: Military leaders who hoped Operation Anaconda would be over this weekend now suggest it could take many more days. On Monday, U.S. helicopters were hit by ground fight, and in ensuing battles, eight U.S. troops were killed. But since then, the American military has been more cautious, with no major casualties.

LT. COL. RON SMITH, COMMANDING SURGEON, JOINT TASK FORCE: We have seen a lot of low-velocity injuries to their arms and their legs. That is probably the main thing that we've had.

COSTANTINI: But the dangers of Afghanistan were in evidence once more to U.S. allies, as the bodies of three Danish and two German peacekeepers were sent to Germany. They were killed Wednesday trying to diffuse an old missile in Kabul, part of their peacekeeping duties.

Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai is asking for more international peacekeepers to stabilize his country. British forces are leading the contingent now. And the Bush administration remains reluctant to commit any U.S. soldiers to that long term duty.

Bob Costantini for CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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