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American Morning

Implications of Special Operations Troops Engaging Taliban

Aired November 16, 2001 - 09:01   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, thank you very much for joining us on this Friday, November 16th. From New York, I'm Paula Zahn. We have some breaking news now to share with you. We have learned that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has now said that U.S. Special forces are engaged in ground combat in Afghanistan, killing Taliban troops who won't surrender. Here is his quote: "They are armed and they are participating." This just in from the Pentagon.

Do we have Bob Franken up from the Pentagon right now? Guess he's not quite ready yet, but -- because he continues to work the phone now to get more information on the significance of these attacks. When we can get Bob up, we will go to him live.

I want to say good morning, again, to Jack Cafferty.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: How are you doing?

ZAHN: How are you doing?

CAFFERTY: Good.

ZAHN: This is certainly not unexpected news.

CAFFERTY: No, and the developments this week, excuse me, in the war in Afghanistan have -- have helped not only not national morale in the sense that maybe we're accomplishing what the president set out to do, but the stock market has reacted very favorably to the developments that have been going on over there.

And -- and it looks like, you know, we're coming off a pretty good week. There were some inflation numbers out this morning, better-than-expected retail sales numbers, the continuing decline in oil prices, some good things starting to happen, vis-a-vis the equity market and beleaguered investors who are tired of looking at those 401(k) statements and saying "where did my retirement go?" You know, tough stuff.

ZAHN: People saw their whole lifetime savings, there -- what they thought would be -- what they're going to be living off for the next 20 years -- get wiped out.

CAFFERTY: Apparently too, the -- the credit for whoever planned the strategy over there. I mean, so far so good, and "it isn't over until it's over," to quote Yogi Berra. But I mean, the press immediately seized on the fact that, well, its not going quickly enough, and in a matter of a few weeks, they have turned virtually all of the country back over to the Northern Alliance, taken it out of Taliban control. Liberated, you know, city after city after city. And just the scenes of people shaving their beards and listening to music, and the women pulling those things off their head. I mean, it's just -- it's like a warm breeze blowing through that country.

And it' nice. And, you know, the people at the Pentagon sat down and figured this stuff out, and apparently it looks like, so far, they were right on target.

ZAHN: And within the context of what we have just learned from the Associated Press, once again, the special forces are engaged in combat in Afghanistan, killing Taliban troops, once again, that is according to the Associated Press. We know that President Bush, later today, will be meeting, in sort of a teleconference with Tommy Franks, where he will talk about his new battle plan. Which is going from these broad aerial bombardment to more focused air attacks. And...

CAFFERTY: I loved his quote yesterday...

ZAHN: ...of course, the intimation is ground troops will be more actively involved ...

CAFFERTY: Was it Franks yesterday who said "the noose is tightening. It's a matter of time." Very (UNINTELLIGIBLE), it's good stuff.

ZAHN: All right, thanks, Jack.

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