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American Morning

Regular Troops Join Forces in Afghanistan

Aired March 04, 2002 - 08:01   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: Up front this morning, the U.S. offensive in eastern Afghanistan, the largest since the war began last fall. For the first time, the U.S. has put hundreds of regular army troops on the ground to join the U.S. Special Forces and Afghan fighters. So far, one American soldier has died in the operation. That operation began on Friday night.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr now joins us from Washington with the latest information from there -- good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Well, there is new information in the last several minutes. CNN has learned that there are additional U.S. fatalities in Afghanistan. We are being told it is multiple fatalities. We don't know how many. Pentagon officials tell us they are trying to get confirmed word from the front, but the word here is not very good.

The bitter fighting is continuing. A U.S. operating base near Khowst came under rocket attack. U.S. bombers were called in immediately to deal with those enemy launchers. The weather is bad. Enemy forces are maintaining their positions on the high ground.

The U.S. strategy is now to encircle the enemy forces, cut off all of the escape routes through the mountain passes, where the fighting is taking place. Bombers and fighters are continuing to pound at cave complexes, troops, vehicles and mortars. AC-130 gunships have also been called in for close fire. Helicopters are continuing to come under fire from these enemy forces.

All of this is an effort to root out hundreds of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters that have holed up in this region of eastern Afghanistan. We expect a more formal announcement from the Pentagon later today about these latest U.S. fatalities -- Paula.

ZAHN: Barbara, let's go back and talk about this mission right now. You were saying that U.S. forces are trying to cut off the mountain passes. In addition to that, they are sort of slamming these cave complexes, where they believe that a number of these al Qaeda members and Taliban members are hidden. And I think Brian Palmer just reported from Bagram that the U.S. is confirming maybe 200 of those fighters involved.

Just how treacherous is this situation for American forces?

STARR: Well, the geography and the terrain is very, very nasty. The way it has been described to us, this is a relatively high altitude area. There are sheer mountain walls. And up and down all of these mountain walls, there are gorges, there are passes, and there are cave complexes throughout these areas, where these fighters are said to be hiding.

So they have a key advantage. They can see the ground forces -- the U.S. and coalition ground forces coming, and apparently that's where a lot of this enemy fire is coming from. That's how these helicopters have taken fire, and that's apparently, we believe, how some of these fatalities have occurred.

So the enemy forces are on a very secluded high ground. The weather is bad. There is snow. All of this provides cover, and the coalition ground forces are trying to work their way into this area.

What is happening now, today, is that the U.S. troops on the ground are repositioning, not necessarily drawing back, but they are repositioning, so that more bombers and fighters can be called in, more airstrikes, and soften up some of these enemy positions -- Paula.

ZAHN: Now, Barbara, you said the Pentagon is likely to confirm the new number of Americans, who have lost their life now in this action. I guess the one thing that is very clear from this latest action over the weekend is this war is long from being over, isn't it?

STARR: This is not what the Pentagon wanted to have happen. They did not want the specter of multiple American fatalities. They had been very lucky so far, but they had been warning everybody Afghanistan was a very nasty place, and that's what is emerging in eastern Afghanistan today -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right. Barbara Starr -- thanks for the update.

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