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CNN Saturday Morning News
Washington Neither Confirms Nor Denies Taliban Fired at a U.S. Plane Over Kabul
Aired October 06, 2001 - 07:35 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go back to Washington, where our John King, once again, is standing by. Before I ask you any questions, John, any reaction thus far out of Washington there with regard to this?
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Very little so far. We will get to that in just a second. Over at the Pentagon, Kyra, no comment, we are told from the Pentagon this morning.
We know from our sources, of course, that the Pentagon has deployed a number of unmanned reconnaissance planes to the region. We also know that one of paramount concerns of military planners is trying to find out just where those Taliban anti-aircraft batteries are located, to pinpoint those locations.
Not only, Pentagon officials tell us, in anticipation of any U.S. military strikes, but also as was being discussed a bit earlier in the program, U.S. officials considering air dropping, dropping from planes humanitarian supplies. Pentagon officials saying those anti-aircraft battery locations would be very critical, as the Pentagon considers that decision as well.
We're checking with the White House and the Pentagon, trying to see what they make of these pictures out of Kabul this morning. Over at the Pentagon, we find CNN's Kathleen Koch.
Kathleen, nothing beyond that no comment?
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nothing beyond the no comment at this point, John. We roused a couple of people here at the Pentagon. And they absolutely will not confirm or deny anything. Now there are a number of possibilities that exist.
The Northern Alliance within Afghanistan, which opposes the Taliban, does have aircraft of its own. So that is one possibility that that could have been a Northern Alliance aircraft flying over Kabul, that generated the anti-aircraft fire and the SAN missile fire we're now hearing.
Second, a possibility is it could've been one of the U.S.' high- flying U-2 spy planes. However, those aircraft fly at over 70,000 feet, and therefore, would not generally be visible to the human eye. Those planes, one of the reasons that they are virtually invincible to an anti-aircraft fire, is that they do fly. So anti-aircraft fires effective range is about 10,000 feet, though some of it can reach as high as 35,000.
We do have U-2s in the region of Iraq, where they're used for surveillances. But again, that not a very likely option if we were able to see it and again, photograph it with our own eyes.
The most likely option is what is being discussed all morning, is that this is one of the United States unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs. I've heard some people referring to them as drones this morning. And they do fly very low and slow. What they do is they take pictures of an area and send them back to a ground station.
As it has been mentioned about two weeks ago, the U.S. did lose a UAV over in Northern Afghanistan. Sources tell us that that UAV was being operated not by the Pentagon, but by the CIA. And we do know that the Pentagon has been using aerial imagery in tracking movements in Afghanistan, not only of refugees, but also potentially movements of Osama bin Laden's forces in trying to locate him -- John.
KING: And to turn the page a bit Kathleen, the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld back in Washington after a critical four day trip overseas. Any update on his assessment of that trip and what next for the Defense Secretary?
KOCH: John, the feeling here is that that trip was very successful. The Defense Secretary made a swing through five nations, trying to garner support for the U.S. campaign against terrorism. One of his last stops was in the very critical country of Uzbekistan, which is Afghanistan's neighbor to the north.
It's been mentioned prominently over the last few weeks as a likely staging ground for U.S. military strikes into Afghanistan. Now President Karimov gave permission for the use of one Uzbekistani air base for humanitarian missions, for rescue missions. But he did not completely rule out the possibility that in the future, if the situation changes, that the U.S. might actually eventually be given permission to use that base or others for potential military strikes -- John.
KING: All right. And we also know the Defense Secretary this morning will take part in a teleconference, a video meeting of the National Security team. The President is up at Camp David. The Secretary of Defense, we are told, will go to the White House.
That teleconference, National Security team meeting in the White House situation room. The President at Camp David. We will bring you more on that a bit later in the day.
And Kyra, as we go back to New York, we will continue to try to see if we can get some officials here in Washington anything beyond that no comment.
PHILLIPS: All right, we'll all stay on top of it. John King, thanks so much.
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