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CNN Saturday Morning News

Opposition's Capture of Mazar-e Sharif Could Aid U.S. War Effort

Aired November 10, 2001 - 08:00   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: The city of Mazar-e Sharif has changed hands several times during Afghanistan's civil war. But this time it's capture by opposition forces could give the U.S. a major staging area in northern Afghanistan.

In Washington, U.S. defense officials now express hope the opposition forces can hold Mazar-e Sharif because that would facilitate getting humanitarian aid to civilians very quickly. Also, approaching Afghan winter, a very important point.

CNN's Jonathan Aiken is at the Pentagon with more this morning.

Good morning, Jonathan.

JONATHAN AIKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra.

That's right, and we're going to touch on those reasons in a moment. As for reaction from the Pentagon to the fall of Mazar-e Sharif, nothing formal. Pentagon officials saying that they're going to wait for the dust to settle literally on this. The U.S. Central Command simply says that it appears media reports on the fall of the city appear to be accurate.

There's two reasons for the Pentagon to be hesitant to comment about this. Northern Alliance claims on military advances have been shown to be less than they necessarily were in the past. But generally as a rule of thumb the Pentagon is not going to be commenting on Alliance actions unless it has a chance to independently corroborate those claims and verify for itself what the action on the ground has been. That is no doubt happening with the help of eyes and ears on the ground and no doubt some reconnaissance flights up in the air.

And we have a map now to show you Mazar-e Sharif and its relative position and its importance. And there are three things that make this important. Let's start with geography.

It's located in the northern part of the country. It's the largest city in a remote region and it also sits at the crossroads to supply routes not only to the north, but also to the south and east, for the capital of Kabul. It's important from a military point of view for several reasons. The capture of Mazar-e Sharif gives the United States a military base in friendly territory from which to work. It can stock resupplies and also do some reinforcing of troops and personnel in that area with the help of an air base there. It also gives the U.S. a clear shot to Uzbekistan to the north, which is where several thousand U.S. troops are poised.

In addition, and this is important from a humanitarian point of view, the air base near Mazar-e Sharif will probably serve as a key base when it comes to getting humanitarian supplies into the country and then from the country get them out by truck onto the mountain roads into some of the more remote areas.

These humanitarian flights that have been taking place since the beginning of this effort are very nice. They've dropped over a million and a half rations so far. But in remote mountain areas they need to get a whole winter supply full of food and these daily drops of food just really aren't enough to make that happen.

There's also a psychological advantage to the capture of Mazar-e Sharif on several points. Not only does it boost the morale of Northern Alliance forces to show that they can take so key a city, even though they've had serious U.S. help in doing so, but it also is an important signal to clan leaders in that part of Afghanistan, as they ponder which side they want to throw their support behind, and that is something that both the Alliance and U.S. forces are pretty eager to contemplate.

And now the big question is: Is the Alliance ready to take Kabul? Northern Alliance commanders have made some noises in that direction in the past 24 hours, saying their men are ready. But the U.S. has been reluctant for them to move quickly, though the U.S. has also been helping in that effort with heavy B-52 bombing on the front lines north of Kabul for the past two weeks.

And they were at it again today, three specific raids -- north of an unused Russian built air base in Bagram, north of Kabul. That is an air base that is key for the U.S. and the Alliance to have, as are some supply routes, Kyra, which are near that air base. Those supply routes still said to be in the hands of the Taliban today -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jonathan Aiken with the latest from the Pentagon. Thanks so much.

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