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American Morning
Taliban Resistance Pockets Will Be Trouble For Some Time
Aired January 03, 2002 - 08:13 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: Now for more on the search for Mullah Omar and for plans for a changing of the guard in Kandahar, let's check in again with our military analyst, Major General Don Shepperd, joining us once again from Washington.
General Shepperd, you heard that report Bill just filed there about this fire fight that happened in Kandahar yesterday. He said that it was basically Northern Alliance anti -- or anti-Taliban troops that were actually going on this patrol and they uncovered these -- these Taliban troops. Do we know whether or not the Marines had a role in this at all?
MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET)., CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I don't think the Marines had a role, from the reporting I'm hearing so far. But, again, it's just an instance of things that are happening all over this country. It's going to be a long, long time before you -- you pick out all of these pockets. And a lot of these people that have defected into the hills, changed sides, et cetera, are going to be able to go and get arms that are stored back in each case. So these type of things are going to be happening for a long, long time, Leon.
HARRIS: Yeah, we talked about that a bit last hour. How confident are you that, you know, that you can actually be successful in rooting out these little pockets, considering the fact that at one point we're going cave to cave, they say, in the Tora Bora region and still didn't really uncover the troops or the people that we were actually searching for in that area? If they're dispersed all over the country, it seems to me that if you had them concentrated in a small area and you still couldn't find them, how do you think you're going to find them if they're spread out all over the place?
SHEPPERD: Yeah, it's an almost impossible situation to dig them all out in the way that we traditionally think of us going after each pocket. What you need to do is establish the rule of law over the country with a police force that basically can have the entire population going after these people, reporting where they are, and then you can target the pockets once you find them. But just going out and looking for the pockets and looking for trouble is something that -- it's an almost impossible situation.
HARRIS: You know, we haven't talked about this in a while, the W.H.A.M. effort, the winning the hearts and minds of the people there in Afghanistan. A lot of the actual bombing phase is pretty much over. What do we know about how successful we've been in actually bringing on board some of the tribal leaders after the bombing campaign?
SHEPPERD: A long-term campaign to do this. And, of course, this gets into the nation-building, which we have said that we, specifically as a military, are not going to do. We're going to have to put a lot of effort in to do this. Afghanistan is a total basket case, after almost 30 years of war that's devastated the country.
There are no courts, there are no banks, there are no facilities for health care of any substance around there. is no economy. All of this has to be built -- has to be built, and the people have to see that things are getting better to have confidence in the interim government; and then, of course, in the long-term solution, which is the final government supposedly going on a national election two years from now.
All of this is very, very difficult to bring this up when you're still trying to fight. And, of course, bombing is not over, I'm certain. I am certain when we find Mullah Omar or pockets out there, we will be bombing these things. So even though it's coming to a lower level, it's probably not over.
HARRIS: Interesting. Finally, and quickly if you can, give us an update on -- on this changing of the guard. We mentioned coming into this the 101st Airborne coming in.
SHEPPERD: Yeah. What's happening is you're establishing a larger -- a larger pocket of Americans, if you will, at Kandahar airport. And they'll be spreading out from Kandahar to other areas. Basically, the 101st is the heavy forces that follow the Marine expeditionary units. They come in, they do such things as establish a real aerial port. You'll want to establish commercial flights coming back in to the Kandahar Airport, and then you'll want to establish larger and heavier forces that can be called upon by the interim security forces that come in there under the U.N. mandate. And you'll want to be able to go help them as they get in trouble around the country.
HARRIS: Major General Don Shepperd, in Washington, thanks once again.
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