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CNN Live At Daybreak

Marines In Afghanistan Receive More Equipment

Aired December 03, 2001 - 06:12   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: There are still battles to be fought in Afghanistan, and more American troops are headed there to do just that.

CNN's Kathleen Koch has the latest now from the Pentagon this morning -- hi, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon. Well, those Marines, now said from the ground to be numbering about 2,000, are poised and ready for duty at a dusty airfield some 65 miles southwest of Kandahar; that city, of course, the last bastion of the Taliban still being pummeled overnight by U.S. aircraft.

Now, a new detachment of helicopters from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit arrived there over the weekend, more than doubling the number of air assets the U.S. has in place. As one Marine put it, we now have more toys to play with, and they are deadly toys: Cobra attack helicopters, Hueys, Super Stallions, Sea Knights, added to those already in place.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld spoke over the weekend about the job the U.S. has ahead of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We want to have enough activity in Afghanistan so we can finish the job. I suspect that if there is to be humanitarian activity going in, which there must be, or people are going to starve. And if there is to be an international peacekeeping force, the key thing is that it be done in a way that we are free to go after the Taliban and after the al Qaeda, because that task is going to take some time. And I think it's important that the world understand that we are leaning forward, not back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Overnight, Air Force and Marine aircraft flew in more all- terrain vehicles, light-armored vehicles, many of them armed with anti-tank weapons, and they're going to be used primarily for reconnaissance in and around the airbase. Those reconnaissance missions, patrolling largely the desert area, so far have led to no direct encounters with any Taliban warriors. One senior Marine is reporting to CNN that he believes that the situation north of that airbase, though, in the city of Kandahar may be reaching a culmination point.

Now, the Marines are in place to keep that base open for, of course, any potential humanitarian missions, any Special Forces missions, and also the influx of any future troops. Its location quite strategic near that crossroad city of Kandahar, also another reason the Pentagon believes that the presence of the Marines there can help limit the movement of the Taliban and al Qaeda throughout the country of Afghanistan.

Now, over the weekend, the defense secretary was asked just to what lengths the U.S. military might go to try to flush Osama bin Laden and members of the al Qaeda network out of those caves and the cave complexes they are believed to be hunkered down in. He said the U.S. would even consider pumping gas into those caves, saying that we will do whatever it is necessary to do -- back to you, Leon.

HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks, Kathleen -- Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon this morning.

KOCH: You're welcome.

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