Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Sunday Morning

5,000 Al Qaeda Reported in Mountains of Afghanistan

Aired March 03, 2002 - 08:02   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest offensive in the War on Terrorism in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. coalition forces are reporting heavy fighting on the ground in the mountainous region. As many as 5,000 al Qaeda fighters are said to be entrenched in the area.

CNN's Brian Palmer is covering the developments. He's near the front lines. He files a report for us from Bagram.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're outside the Bagram Air Base, which is being used by the military in support of operations against al Qaeda and the Taliban. We've been watching U.S. helicopters taking off and landing for about, well for several hours now.

About 100 miles south of us, U.S. forces, joined by their Afghan allies, are fighting against al Qaeda and Taliban forces that have apparently regrouped in this mountainous region of Afghanistan.

MAJOR A. C. ROPER, 101ST AIRBORNE SPOKESMAN: Operations continue south of Gardez in Afghanistan. Firefights have been intense, at times in heavy combat actions. The exact size of the enemy forces occupying a series of cave complexes is not known. To date, more than 80 pieces of ordinance have been dropped from aircraft in support of Afghan, U.S. and coalition forces. Afghan, U.S. and coalition forces are involved in eliminating al Qaeda and other Afghan Taliban forces in the area.

PALMER (voice over): The operation began Friday night with U.S. B-52s striking positions in the mountainous (inaudible) around the (inaudible) district. B-52s have struck repeatedly around the area Saturday and Sunday.

PALMER (on camera): We were told that this operation has been in the planning for about two months. We were told by Afghan sources in the region, actually in neighboring Logar (ph) Province that U.S. forces have been there for about two months recruiting among local commanders and local soldiers. Brian Palmer, CNN, outside the Bagram Air Force base, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we've been telling you about the military officials saying, talking about the thermobaric bomb that was used as part of the latest attacks against al Qaeda forces. These devices are designed to destroy targets hiding out in caves. We're going to go for the latest now from Washington. Kathleen Koch is at the Pentagon. Hello, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra. Well first, let's talk a little bit about some of that finding, the news continuing on the ground there. We just got a little bit of a rundown on it. The fighting began Friday. It is continuing today.

Hundreds of Afghan fighters are backed up by U.S. forces and other members of the coalition in Afghanistan, taking on again that entrenched pocket of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters that are dug in near the city of Gardez, which is about 100 miles south of Kabul in Afghanistan's Pachtia (ph) Province.

While some are saying that this is perhaps the largest ground offensive of the war, U.S. aircraft have been very busy too, they are continuing to pummel enemy positions during this conflict which occurs in still bitter winter weather.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

ROPER: The weather has been cold and terrain is snow covered, mountainous and is ranging from 2,500 meters high at the valley floors to 3,500 meters at the mountain peaks. Once the combat phase of this operation ends, coalition, civil and humanitarian affairs teams will continue to operate in the Pachtia Province.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: And as Kyra pointed out, a new bunker buster bomb has made its debut during this offensive. It is a laser guided 2,000-pound thermobaric bomb. It's packed with a fuel rich explosive that creates intense heat and pressure that penetrates with a fireball deep into the confined spaced of areas like caves, now that while leaving the structure of the cave intact, so that U.S. forces can then search it to see if their target has been eliminated.

The weapon was first tested back in December, and U.S. military officials were so very pleased with its performance that they rushed it to production, so that it then could be used in the offensive in Afghanistan. Back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Kathleen, what can you tell us about these nuclear sensors that have been talked about?

KOCH: Kyra, it's interesting. Obviously, the U.S. government, U.S. military have always been very concerned about the threat from weapons of mass destruction, but that was intensified in the days after the attacks of September 11th.

As a matter of fact, right here around the Pentagon itself a couple months after the September 11th attacks, these U-haul sized trailers began appearing, and we were told that they were there to detect traces of chemical, biological, nuclear weapons. Apparently, similar technology was used around the Olympic games in Salt Lake City.

So now what the Bush Administration wants to do is improve that technology, make it more sophisticated, produce more of it so that it can be deployed around secure areas that could be potential targets.

Apparently, the supplemental budget for the Department of Energy, the 2002 budget does include lots of additional funding for research and development into new and improved sensors. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Kathleen Koch, live from the Pentagon. Thank you so much. Miles.

KOCH: You're welcome.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com