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American Morning

Northern Alliance Looks to Take Advantage of Air Strikes

Aired October 25, 2001 - 11:43   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. airstrikes appear to be making significant gains against some of the Taliban troops north of the capital city of Kabul.

CNN's Chris Burns filed this report a short time ago near the Bagram air base. That was built by the Soviets some 20 years ago.

Here's Chris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. air raid on its -- in the process right now. We have been seeing pairs of U.S. war jets flying overhead, dropping bombs over a number of positions.

Just over my shoulder, perhaps you see a little bit of smoke over there. They have been hitting a couple of positions there after this afternoon, also a number of air strikes over a mountainside, across from us, also striking at Taliban positions, dropping at least five bombs -- smoke rising from those as well.

The Northern Alliance seemed to be taking advantage of these air strikes. We saw two tanks rolling toward the front, between here and Kabul, rolling down the main road between here and Kabul -- and those tanks heading in the direction where there were airstrikes overnight. So it does appear they're trying to take advantage of those air strikes.

However, the commanders also say that these air strikes are not nearly enough. They need a lot more for them to be able to advance towards Kabul. There are, however, reports that the Northern Alliance are building up their forces in anticipation of an eventual move toward Kabul.

Also, air strikes in the north in Samangan and Balkh Province overnight -- and today targeting Taliban positions. We hear another U.S. -- there's another plane flying right over my head, apparently getting ready to drop its bombs. We'll keep an eye on it for you -- and air strikes over in the north, as the Northern Alliance tries to approach Mazar-e-Sharif, Mazar-e-Sharif being a Taliban stronghold in the north.

Also, the Taliban are fighting back fiercely today. We've heard along this front quite a bit of artillery and machine-gun fire -- also a lot of anti-aircraft fire aimed, of course, at those war jets. However, it does appear they are getting by unscathed. We haven't seen any hit. They continue to drop their bombs. One continues to fly by. We see it reflected in the sun. Perhaps you can see that on our other camera.

And so the air strikes do continue at this hour. And they seem to have gone on longer today than they have. This is the fifth day that those air strikes have been targeting this frontline. And a lot of commanders here say that it's about time those air strikes have begun. They have been waiting for that for quite some time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Again, CNN's Chris Burns there near the frontlines there in Northern Afghanistan.

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