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CNN Saturday Morning News

U.S. Performed Raid in Kandahar Friday Night

Aired October 20, 2001 - 11:01   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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Let's start, though, this hour with the lightning-quick raid into southern Afghanistan. That, reportedly, has happened. The Pentagon says special ops troops spent several hours around Kandahar, the doorstep of the Taliban leadership. They're saying little else, though, except that all the helicopters that went in came out safely.

CNN's Nic Robertson is keeping watch on developments from Islamabad, Pakistan -- good evening to you, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Martin.

We're talking to our sources in Kandahar. They tell quite a precise and accurate story of what happened in Kandahar last night. At about 11:00 p.m. local they say the bombing started. They saw the AC-130s overhead.

Then, they say, about 12:00 p.m. it began to intensify. About midnight the activities began to intensify. They say that they heard five low-flying helicopters fly right over their compound. Then about 1:00, the fighting, they say, really reached a peak. And they say about that time, there was an intense small arms, small weapons, small guns firefight going on for about half an hour.

Now this, they say, that they haven't heard before -- that and the helicopters. And the small arms, perhaps, an indication there of a clash -- perhaps an indication there of a clash between commando special forces and Taliban forces. They say that in the nighttime, they certainly couldn't tell that.

But this is the first time that they were able to hear a really extensive small-arms exchange and those low-flying helicopters over the city.

Now, Pakistani authorities today have confirmed that one of -- that a helicopter that United States officials say was used in support of that mission, the Pakistani officials confirmed that that helicopter crashed in a remote part of Pakistan today -- Baluchistan -- it's a desert region, but it's sort of just across the border with southern Afghanistan, but Pakistani officials saying that it crashed inside Pakistan, and that it wasn't shot down.

Now, at the border today with Afghanistan -- in the southern border crossing point of Chaman -- that's about a three hours' drive from Kandahar -- some 5,000 people, U.N. officials say -- 5,000 refugees crossed out of Afghanistan. But what they say is happening, there is a big build-up, they say, of some very desperate civilian refugees just across the border inside Afghanistan.

They say perhaps as many as 10,000 are crowding it there, trying to get into Pakistan, but they're not being allowed in because the Pakistani authorities have not opened the borders to just refugees who don't have the correct paperwork, they say.

U.N. officials today, also say that from what they're seeing inside Afghanistan, the broad picture there, that their relief efforts inside Afghanistan are being hampered by deterioration in security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO DONINI, U.N. AID COORDINATOR AFGHANISTAN: In various centers, including Jalalabad, Kabul, Kandahar, Mazar, Kunduz and parts of the north, we are receiving reports from various sources almost daily about U.N. and aid offices being taken over, items seized or looted, and staff beaten.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now, the U.N. mine operation program inside Afghanistan reports that it has had some 80 vehicles stolen in the last few weeks. That gives some idea of the widespread scale of this looting that's going on by these armed people.

Inside Pakistan today the Pakistan foreign ministry here confirms that it has had meetings, not only with the Taliban ambassador, but also with him, here, some other Taliban officials. Now, the Pakistani authorities say what they are trying to do here is to diffuse the situation, bring peace to the region.

But they say that they have heard nothing new from the Taliban at this time and they do not see, at this moment, from those discussions, any new solution to the current crisis -- the current fighting that's going on -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Nic, any more details regarding the report of an explosion at the airport there in Islamabad?

ROBERTSON: Indeed. The police say that because they have had high security at the airport recently, they were able to prevent what could have been many civilian casualties, even fatalities at the airport.

A bag containing explosives was discovered in a routine security check at the airport. The police spotted it. They took it to a concrete bunker that they built just on the forecourt at the airport. They placed it there. Shortly after that, it exploded.

Police say they don't know who placed it there. They are having explosives experts look at just how much explosives were there. But we saw the damage, and it had blown big concrete chunks off that bunker; and certainly if it had been left where it was, in the domestic departures area, with many people sitting around it, police say, they believe it could have caused some fatalities and casualties -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: All right. Nic Robertson reporting to us live from Islamabad, where it is evening there -- thank you.

Well let's talk more about the operation that was under way and the apparent helicopter accident. Here is Kyra with a little help from an expert -- Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And that expert is our General Don Shepperd. He is our CNN military analyst. We turn to him in Washington this morning -- good morning, General.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Kyra, good morning.

PHILLIPS: Well, first let's talk about this region where this accident happened with the helicopter -- Baluchistan. Tell us about what kind of assets the U.S. military has in this area.

SHEPPERD: Well, basically, there have been reports that we have, of course, ships south of Afghanistan, south of Pakistan in the Arabian Sea. We also have reports of three bases being granted access within Pakistan. They're shown here on this map near Pansi, Jacobabad and Dalbandin. This gives us bases that reportedly are for search and rescue of downed pilots and also humanitarian.

Now, what this does is begin to encircle Afghanistan, so that you have access from the sea to the south, from the east within Pakistan, and also later on, as we'll show, from up north in the Uzbekistan area.

What it gives us is tremendous flexibility. If you're a Taliban, you do not know if we're coming from the north or south, east or west. You don't know if we're coming daylight or night, and you don't know if we're coming from below or above. Now, this is tremendous flexibility of a joint team -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Now, this mission that we've been talking about, and it included this helicopter incident, why don't we move on and talk about other missions that may be taking place, and the options the U.S. military has? First, of course, off the carrier, and this helicopter could have come off a carrier, for example, the Kitty Hawk.

SHEPPERD: It could have. And I want to tell you that I really appreciate the way, as a former military person, the way CNN is going about this. We are not saying where things come from. We are being very, very careful about that.

It could have come off the Kitty Hawk. It's reported that it's down there. It's reported that its decks were bare. It's reported that special helicopters were on it by the media. But we're not saying where it came from, and that will come from the Pentagon, if they decide to tell us.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, in addition to the carriers -- Pakistan -- bases there for search and rescue.

SHEPPERD: Yes, bases for search and rescue -- if people go down or people need places to recover, Pakistan reportedly is available -- a courageous move by President Musharraf of Pakistan. This is very important to us. It's important that we have places to go.

PHILLIPS: OK. And we're having a little trouble with our -- or having some technical issues with our map here, General.

SHEPPERD: All right.

PHILLIPS: So if we can get that up, I'll definitely -- I'll go to it, so let's move along.

Northern Afghanistan, Tajikistan -- we've talked a lot about this area. We can use the air base, but not necessarily -- or airspace rather...

SHEPPERD: Right.

PHILLIPS: ... but necessarily bases.

SHEPPERD: Right, we've got airspace. I don't believe that we have reported bases in Tajikistan yet. We may be seeking those. We may not need them. In Uzbekistan, we have an important base up there called Khanabad (ph) -- it's spelled with a "K." You'd call it Khanabad if you saw it, but Khanabad. And reportedly the 10th Mountain Division is there with 1,000 troops securing the air base, perhaps others to follow.

What is being set here is a military scene, in which we have the capability -- the capability with special forces and the capability with follow-on forces to essentially do anything we want. Reportedly this attack today in the Khanabad area, if all we're hearing is true and if it's confirmed by the Pentagon -- and we'll wait to see -- is an important new phase of the war on which we now have the capability to go to the stronghold of the Taliban -- Kandahar being the stronghold of the Taliban.

When you can come to their stronghold, and you can come at night, you've got some real capability -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's talk about some other possible targets in Afghanistan. We're going to move over here to our Telestrator. You mentioned Kandahar, of course. Now, what about Herat?

SHEPPERD: Well, all of these that are shown on the map right here are strongholds of Taliban right now -- Herat, Kandahar, Mazar-e Sharif, Kabul, Jalalabad. And basically they are owned, if you will, by the Taliban forces.

Now, the idea behind all of these strikes is to weaken the Taliban and set the conditions for the Northern Alliance and other opposition forces to come in, depose the Taliban in some type of coalition government. We are not trying to second-guess where strikes will be, but if you're a Taliban, you have to understand that you're encircled, and we can come at times and places of our choosing, and we have that capability.

We've just seen the first casualties reported in the unfortunate accident in Pakistan. Now, there may be others. This is dangerous business -- dangerous business, and the people doing it, if they are indeed the Rangers, as reported, the special forces there, the toughest of the tough. If you're in trouble, you want them to come -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Right. And we've discussed this, General. Real quickly before we let you go, this incident really does not signify the capabilities of the U.S. military. The Taliban has said they are ready for a ground war. However, the U.S. continues to degrade the military capabilities of the Taliban.

Are they really in line to take on a war and win?

SHEPPERD: Well, I'll tell you what. We're in line to take on the war and win, and we're going to win no matter how long it takes. But we are not going to play their game, is the message I'm getting from the secretary of defense. We don't intend to get bogged down in a guerrilla warfare, fighting their war like the Soviets did.

We have other things that we're able to do, and you see it right now. First air attacks, now reportedly some ground action. We will take as long as we need to pull off what we need to do, which is ridding the country of this Taliban regime and establishing a coalition government. We have the ability to do it, and we're going to do it -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: CNN military analyst General Don Shepperd -- thank you so much.

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