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CNN Sunday Morning

General Shepperd Discusses Northern Alliance's Progress

Aired November 11, 2001 - 10:07   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.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: The Northern Alliance soldiers in Afghanistan are reportedly taking new ground from Taliban troops this morning. Joining me to talk more about this is CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd. Thanks a lot for coming in.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Morning, Jeanne.

MESERVE: Kathleen just reported that Secretary Rumsfeld is expressing a few reservations about the kind of grip that the Northern Alliance may have on Mazar-e-Sharif. What's your perspective?

SHEPPERD: Very wise words on behalf of the secretary of defense. These are preliminary reports, very encouraging, but this is the first step in a long war. Remember, when the Northern Alliance, which is grossly out manned by a factor of four to one in numbers, takes territory, they also have to defend that territory, resupply themselves. And this rapid movement into new areas is something that they are going to have to be very cautious about. In addition, once you take cities, if the enemy still owns the high ground, it can shoot down into those cities, you're still in trouble.

MESERVE: And do you believe that's the case?

SHEPPERD: I do believe this is the case right now. We've seen retreat of the Taliban forces, but we don't know where they're going. The good news is once they re-amass to re-attack -- if that's what they are going to do -- or even retreat to a certain area, they become lucrative targets for United States and coalition air power.

MESERVE: Given what we've seen about the towns that appear to have been falling to the Northern Alliance, what's the strategy here? What are they doing?

SHEPPERD: Well, the strategy is, I think, we've got a map that we can take a look at. The strategy here is you take the Mazar-e- Sharif area; that opens up resupply from Uzbekistan, resupply of the Northern Alliance forces, resupply of humanitarian aid to Mazar-e- Sharif.

Now, between Mazar-e-Sharif and Kabul, there are about four key things to think about. There are towns Samangan, Bagram and Pul-e- Khumri and then finally, a pass just north of the Bagram Airfield. Now if you see that rift, if you will, in the mountains north of Kabul there, that's the Panjshir Valley that runs out of the Hindu Kush. Bagram is right at the base of the Panjshir Valley, and those towns are key to opening the route from Mazar-e-Sharif to Kabul.

Once you take that, and then once you go up further north and you take Konduz and you also take, not only Konduz but Taloqan up there and the Kaleh Kateh Hill -- there's a high ground in that area. You now own all of northeastern Afghanistan and you can prevent the major resupply of the Taliban forces.

MESERVE: And we have to leave it at that, I'm afraid. General Shepperd, thanks so much for coming.

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