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CNN Saturday Morning News

Al Qaeda Tunnels Could Make U.S. Attacks More Difficult

Aired November 03, 2001 - 07:11   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: A major focus of the campaign in Afghanistan is finding Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda followers. But it's a daunting task, because they are underground, hiding deep in caves.

How will U.S. troops ever find them? CNN's Joie Chen, along with our military analyst, retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd, tells us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOIE CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are at least hundreds, probably thousands, though, caves and tunnels, aqueducts, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) all throughout the mountains and deserts of Afghanistan, many of which could certainly serve as hiding places for the Taliban or anybody else who might want to hire there -- hide there.

CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd is here with us to talk about all this.

And general, you certainly from your experience in Vietnam, you know what it is to face a formidable enemy that goes underground.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, indeed. They can sneak up from underground and jump on you, and they can do it day or night.

At a trip last year, I was with a group in Vietnam, and we visited the Vinh Moc tunnels where a whole city of almost 5,000 people existed underground for major portions of the Vietnam War. We also visited the Cu Chi tunnels, which came up within about a mile of the base where I was stationed. And we didn't even know those tunnels existed. They're something, again, in the way of a complex.

CHEN: Well, Afghanistan, we understand, has -- is a maze of tunnels going back to Alexander the Great's time, which they initially used just to bring water resources to the surface. But some of these things have been developed into elaborate cave and tunnel networks.

I want to take a look at a -- some graphic depictions. First of all, we do want to mention that some of the experts say that networks of caves found primarily in southern Afghanistan, also in eastern Afghanistan, and as well. The Taliban, of course, you know, has a stronghold area at Kandahar.

Now, let's show you some of the animations of how U.S. forces might be able to find someone hiding in a cave.

Imagine if you were, maybe, a group of Taliban fighters. You see them depicted here. Might be two, might be more than that. Couple guys sitting underground in one of these caves. Maybe they built a fire to keep themselves warm.

All right, so then at that point, a reconnaissance plane might come in, you see there, depicted here as a Predator, one of the unmanned probes that can go along. It can detect the heat of the fire using thermal detection devices, actually can detect heat from underground.

Now, the drone's controllers would then be able to call in bombers that would come in, say, in the form of a B-2 bomber. And then the B-2 can attack the target with those big bunker-buster bombs. We've heard about those, 5,000-pound bombs that are able to penetrate deep underground. These were first established in the time of the Gulf War, when they knew they had to go after Saddam Hussein's forces deep in these bunkers underground. Now might become of some use here.

General, as you look at these sort of things and you analyze that situation, I mean, I guess for a lot of people the notion that the Taliban can hide underground in these tunnels seems like almost impossible to locate. How could you find them in thousands and thousands of tunnels?

SHEPPERD: Well, you described it very well. There's two types of tunnels, the natural tunnels which are used are the tunnels that have been dug out which have been used for irrigation for centuries, back to Alexander the Great and later the Mongol time where people hid. And you can hide in those almost at will.

But the military tunnels that the Taliban and others have dug are much more formidable. They're deep, they're well defended. Some of them even have steel doors as well as brick floors. And you have to know exactly where the tunnel is. In other words, you see the opening to the tunnel, but then where does it go, left or right? Does it extend, then go left or right? So you've got to be able to get the bomb in where it is.

This is a formidable, formidable target, with thousands of these over the countryside.

CHEN: Certainly will become a topic of much conversation. In the end, though, you're probably still going to need ground troops to get?

SHEPPERD: Could be, could be indeed. We'll do as much as we can from the air, but there'll be a lot of Special Forces involved in getting people out of these tunnels, Joie.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: And it comes down to that. You can do only so much from the air.

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