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CNN Live At Daybreak
U.S. And British Troops Land At Baghram Air Base in Afghanistan
Aired November 16, 2001 - 05:11 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: Now we're going to take you inside Afghanistan and speak with CNN's Matthew Chance, who's standing by at Baghram Airport, where British forces with aid have now landed -- Matthew, can you hear me?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I can hear you very well, Catherine.
In fact, that's right, the first overt deployment of U.S. and British forces that we've been seeing here in Afghanistan. Military officials of both countries tell us about 160 of their troops, 100 commandos from the Royal Marines and the British Army have arrived here along with 60 U.S. military personnel. They came in eight C-130 transport planes over the course of the past 24 hours, again, according to military people.
You're right, I am talking to you now from the Baghram Air Base, a disused Soviet era air base there. And we've been reporting from this place over the past few weeks, of course, on several occasions, on the intensive U.S.-led air strikes on the Taliban front lines. Those front lines, of course, were just at the bottom of those mountains. You can see there on those pictures we're pushing out to you now, obviously the Taliban have completely retreated from this area and the situation has completely changed, to the extent that these forces have now felt it safe enough to come here and establish some kind of base here.
Military officials tell us that this operation will be a limited one in its scope. They're here, they say, to secure the air base and to assess the dangers in the surrounding neighborhood for the purpose, they say, of getting humanitarian flights to resume here. Of course, as we've been hearing, there is a dire need for humanitarian supplies in Afghanistan. There are more than a million displaced people across the country, a lot of need for food stuffs, for shelter, for warm clothing, especially now that winter is upon us.
And so this operation here to secure the air base, to get those aid flights in, will be very welcome amongst the people of Afghanistan -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Matthew, we've been hearing of pockets of Taliban in and around some areas that have been taken by the Northern Alliance. Tell us, you mentioned there at the Baghram Airport, what is the situation in the surrounding area of the airport?
CHANCE: Well, it feels pretty secure. In fact, in the areas to the north of the Baghram Air Base -- and the camera now is pointed towards the sort of southwest, so in the other direction, if you like, it's very secure. In fact, that's been the slither of territory in Afghanistan that the opposition Northern Alliance has been holding despite the efforts of the Taliban to take it from them over several years they've been fighting their civil war together.
To the south and to the area behind the mountains there, that's where Kabul is, the Afghan capital, of course. And as we've been reporting, the last week or so has seen such dramatic military advances on the part of the Northern Alliance. Of course, in coordination with the United States-led coalition and their air strikes on those Taliban front lines.
But you're right, even within the area from here towards Kabul, about 45 kilometers between the two places, there are still not so much pockets of resistance, but pockets of Taliban fighters, Arab militia members who are still making their presence felt. In fact, on the drive up here this morning, there was an incident which we just missed about an hour before. A number of Arab soldiers, according to Northern Alliance troops, have tried to, have been hiding in the mountains, trying to make a run for it and had been shot dead. We saw their bodies strewn along the mountainside where they were killed.
There's still pockets of resistance. It's generally secure in these areas, unlike elsewhere in Afghanistan -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, CNN's Matthew Chance at Baghram Airport.
Thank you, Matthew
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