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American Morning

British Lead Move through Eastern Afghanistan

Aired May 02, 2002 - 07:06   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: Now on to eastern Afghanistan, where coalition forces are on the move and are pressing their hunt for al Qaeda fighters and Osama bin Laden.

Barbara Starr joins us from the Pentagon now with more on this military operation -- good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. Well, yes, hundreds of U.S. and coalition forces, largely led by the British this time, are moving through eastern Afghanistan today. In Bagram, Afghanistan earlier today, British military officials discussed what is taking place.

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BRIG. MAJ. ROGER LANE, COMMANDER, ROYAL MARINES OPERATION: Forces of around 1,000 strong and equipped with a full range of combat power at my disposal has been deployed by air and by land to first secure and then search a large and challenging area in what is a strategic key location for our enemy.

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STARR: Now, as we discussed yesterday, this entire operation is aimed at searching caves, hideouts, places all along the border with Pakistan throughout eastern Afghanistan, where the U.S. and coalition forces believe hundreds of Taliban and al Qaeda may be hiding out.

The British are calling this Operation Snipe, after that bird, but we have come to really know this much more broadly as Operation Mountain Lion. This is the search effort that has been going on for the last several weeks. This name we are hearing today, Operation Snipe, is just this segment of it. But officials tell us that this is now the largest deployment of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan since that combat fighting in March -- Paula.

ZAHN: And, Barbara, you made reference to intelligence yesterday suggesting that warlords might have indicated Osama bin Laden is somewhere along the Pakistani-Afghan border. Anything new on that front?

STARR: Well, the rumor mill is still hot and heavy through that border region. Warlords are continuing to, you know, cite reports that people are seeing Osama bin Laden. And sources tell us this is certainly part of what's going on at the moment. There are so many rumors that they want to go check out a number of places, where there have been reported sightings.

What's really interesting here is there are still no cold-hard facts about where bin Laden is, but there is a growing assessment inside the intelligence community, we are told, that in fact he is alive. That they do believe he is alive, and that their best guess is that he probably is moving through this region along the Afghan- Pakistan border -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right. Barbara Starr, thanks so much.

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