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CNN Saturday Morning News

U.S. Marines May Move Out of Kandahar in Three Weeks' Time

Aired December 29, 2001 - 09:01   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We go back to Kandahar now and our Bill Hemmer.

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra, thanks once again.

Let's update you now on what we're hearing about the future operation here for the U.S. military.

The indication we get here on the ground is that the U.S. Marines may be out of here in about three weeks' time, possibly about mid- January. And at that time, we're getting word that the Army, the 101st Airborne Division, will come in here to Kandahar and further stabilize the region and certainly expand the operations at the airport, eventually giving way to humanitarian aid and also peacekeepers eventually here in the southern part of Afghanistan.

So as we continue to watch that, we're also watching eastern Afghanistan, and specifically the Tora Bora region. You know, we got some indication yesterday through Walter Rodgers and Nic Robertson and others working in the area, that special forces have been on the move there, possibly away from the area. But again, today there were more spotted.

Let's get there live now this evening and check in with Walter Rodgers and see what he is seeing throughout the day and the evening hours there.

Walter, hello, and good evening.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill, nice talking to you.

Here in the Tora Bora region, there are still pockets of U.S. special forces operating on the mountains behind me. In point of fact, the special forces, U.S. special forces, have been quite busy in Afghanistan today.

In the Mazar-e Sharif area, the special forces, wearing body armor, bullet-proof vests, and carrying semiautomatic weapons, were used to transfer al Qaeda prisoners -- those are the Arabs who fought with Osama bin Laden earlier -- and some Afghans to the airport from a fortress in the Mazar-e Sharif area, high security precautions taken there, the reason being that a week ago, some of the al Qaeda prisoners being transferred by the Pakistanis across the border in Pakistan broke away, staged a jailbreak, killed half a dozen Pakistani security people.

So the U.S. security people are taking no chances at all, special forces transferring those people, the al Qaeda prisoners and the Afghans to the airport, then moving them down to Kandahar where you are, Bill.

But the special forces here are still operating in small groups, pockets on top of the mountains. We took a drive up there earlier today. Keep -- they were trying to keep a very low profile. They went to ground as soon as they saw us, and they asked their colleagues from the Eastern Alliance, that is the local Afghan fighters, to disinvite us off the mountain quickly. We were told to turn around, go back, take no pictures.

That's interesting, because earlier in the day when the U.S. special forces were leaving their base, which is about six kilometers from here, moving up the mountain, it was almost as if they wanted to be photographed on their all-terrain vehicles. There were eight specials forces soldiers in that group. They went up the mountain, spent the day up there. They took no overnight gear with them, no tents.

As I say, we encountered them up there quite by chance. They did not want to be photographed, didn't want to be seen. But about dusk, the same special forces soldiers came back down the mountains, riding their all-terrain vehicles. They had on ski masks so you couldn't take pictures of them, couldn't determine what their identity was.

They were keeping, as I say, not only a low profile, but they didn't seem to be doing very much up there when we encountered them. We're not sure exactly what their mission is, but we do know that they go up now in the morning, return in the afternoon, and they are in the company, once they get up there, of the Eastern Alliance forces -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Walter. Walter Rodgers watching things at Tora Bora. Walter, thanks to you.

Back now in Kandahar, and you heard Walter talk about the detainees that eventually will be making their way here to Kandahar. We do anticipate more to arrive here. In fact, for the past several nights, many have come here. And last night there was the biggest haul, 63 in total, on several different airplanes, landed here in the dead of night, 63 last night, bringing the total now to 125.

And with the FBI agents working on the ground here trying to carry out their investigation of what these al Qaeda and Taliban members may or may not know about other suspected terrorist cells or the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and other issues, they are rather tight-lipped about it, and with obvious concern. The security continues to be a major issue when it comes to these detainees.

What we can tell you, though, about the latest group, though, of those 63, we're told about 29 are suffering from injuries, things like broken bones, et cetera, were described to the injuries to be relating to combat, possibly injuries they suffered either in the Tora Bora region or also fighting possibly in northern Afghanistan in the area of Kunduz or Mazar-e Sharif when those battles raged back in the month of November.

Also 16 others apparently are suffering from some sort of long- time illness, possibly diabetes or malaria, so certainly it is a strain on the medical staff trying to keep these people healthy.

Now, throughout the country, though, this is just a small portion of what we understand to be the total number of detainees. We're told in 30 different areas, 30 different centers of Afghanistan, up to 3,000 detainees may still be held. How many will come here ultimately is yet to be determined at this point. The Marines say they could handle about 200, 250.

But again their facilities improve on a daily basis. In fact, today we saw inside the four-cornered walls here, they have guard posts located at each different corner area to keep an eye on them 24 hours a day. They are bound, many of them, with hoods over their head, led through different areas, and there is a main watch tower as well positioned outside that wall to keep the vigilance and keep the observation, again with spotlights there, 24 hours a day.

More coming up shortly. Back to Atlanta now, and Kyra with more news -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Bill, thanks so much.

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