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CNN Live At Daybreak

New Operation Aimed at Preventing Taliban and Al Qaeda From Returning to Afghanistan

Aired May 30, 2002 - 05:31   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Coalition forces are beginning a new operation with new tactics aimed at preventing Taliban and al Qaeda members from returning to Afghanistan.

Our Mike Boettcher is at the command center at Bagram Air Base with details on this latest mission.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The British Royal Marines have been on the move for two days, quietly deploying 300 commandos. Some after nightfall by helicopter, others over land by convoy. This new operation is called "Buzzard" and will be conducted in southeast Afghanistan along the Pakistan border.

This time, coalition forces are using new tactics for deploying the Royal Marines for a long duration mission based south of Khowst, Afghanistan. They will conduct small patrols and fly the flag, so to speak, in areas that rarely see a coalition presence; areas potentially sympathetic to the Taliban and al Qaeda. They have orders to gather intelligence, stabilize the region, improve relations with local villagers and stop what coalition intelligence analysts believe will be an attempt by terrorists to disrupt next month's Afghan tribal council, which will try to form a permanent government.

MAJ. RICHARD KING, BRITISH ROYAL MARINES: We will act as a deterrent for the Taliban and al Qaeda, moving into Afghanistan in an attempt to disrupt the political process going on at the moment.

BOETTCHER: For the third time in a row, the British are taking over the heavy lifting for the coalition. But it appears U.S. forces are ready to again join the British in conducting large operations. This is why: looking like the bridge of a fictional star ship, it is actually a new generation military command center erected in a tent at Bagram Air Base. It will be the digital headquarters for the 18th Airborne Corps, which will soon assume command of coalition operations in Afghanistan.

Through this rarely seen combined joint operation center will pass every bit of battlefield information, intelligence, troop deployments, terrorist movements and their operations. General Dan McNeill will sit at its helm.

GEN. DAN MCNEILL, COMMANDER 18TH AIRBORNE CORPS: We get to do it, we've got the techniques. We think we can fly (ph) well here.

BOETTCHER: If this ultra-modern command center is the arm that throws the spear, then these men are the tip of the spear: Bravo Company of the 2nd Battalion 187th Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division. Training here on a border target range, they have been deployed in Afghanistan since early January. Bravo Company took part in Operation Anaconda in March, a battle in which several hundred al Qaeda and Taliban were reported killed.

They know their ticket home will be found at the end of a battlefield pathway and a mission accomplished. The nine al Qaeda, their Afghan sanctuary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our generation, they pretty much felt we're slackers, we don't care about the country. But you see these guys out here and you see them training every day, you see them carrying 90- pound packs up the mountains in the Hindu Kush and it's just amazing. You tell them to do something and they're going to do it. They're going to get it done.

BOETTCHER: So now they wait impatiently for another mission, each day training, each day expecting an order to attack.

Mike Boettcher, CNN, Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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