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CNN Saturday Morning News

What Is Next for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan?

Aired December 29, 2001 - 10:12   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: With the tension between India and Pakistan, and the president's pledge that the war in Afghanistan is not yet over, what's next for U.S. military forces? CNN military analyst retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd is back with us again. Hey there, general.

MAJ. GEN. DONALD SHEPPERD (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: Good morning, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about India and Pakistan for a moment. Well actually, we have seen video in the past 24 hours, the U.S. special forces leaving Tora Bora by truck and ATV. Is the U.S. done at Tora Bora, or are they leaving the job of searching the caves to Afghan soldiers?

SHEPPERD: I think a little bit of both. It is clear that we are not going to be told what the special forces are doing by General Franks or Secretary Rumsfeld or anyone else. They don't want to be photographed, they don't want people to know. It's clear that they are moving back and forth into the area so they may be reacting to newly found intelligence. They are clearly working with the Eastern Alliance forces, working with them and also encouraging them, and probably paying them to search various areas.

But they may just be redeploying forces to new caves as they finish with the original search areas. So it's hard to say what they are doing. But it is clear they are not withdrawing from the area entirely, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And U.S. Army soldiers are replacing Marines at Kandahar Airport. What are the long-term prospects for U.S. troops? Will they be in Afghanistan awhile?

SHEPPERD: It looks like they are going to be in Afghanistan a long while. In fact, that was confirmed by I believe General Franks and perhaps even the president. The standard military doctrine is going on in Kandahar. The Marines come in, they take objectives, they are lightly armed, and then the heavy Army comes to hold the territory, in this case Kandahar, and conduct sustained operations.

Now, again, it appears that they are going to be there to finish the things that we need to do against al Qaeda and Taliban cells that remain, to assist with the opening of the roads throughout the area and to provide security in the two-year interim period before a formal government is finally established in Afghanistan for the future, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And tribal leaders are asking that U.S. stop airstrikes in Afghanistan. President Bush says they will continue as long as necessary. How long might the airstrikes continue? It has obviously been quiet for the past week.

SHEPPERD: It is competing objects here. The Afghans want to be free to travel their country, they want to take the areas back under control and they know that if they move in the country with air power overhead that bad things can happen if targets are misidentified or something of that type happens.

Now it is also clear that we want the remaining al Qaeda cells, we want Omar, we want bin Laden, we want to be able to go against them wherever we find them with air power and with ground forces, or in conjunction with the opposition forces.

So we have competing objectives here, and it appears to me that we are going to be there with our air power until our objectives are satisfied. However, whatever we do in the way of air strikes must now be closely coordinated with the new interim government under Hamid Karzai and his defense ministers so we don't hit the wrong targets, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Now, the $1 million question, is this campaign going to go into another country? There has been talk about Somalia, Iraq. What do you think?

SHEPPERD: Clearly it will, and clearly it probably is ongoing as we speak, much of it invisible and not being told and much of it not military. A lot of it diplomatic, a lot of it financial, and a lot of it law enforcement agencies, international law enforcement agencies -- FBI, CIA -- hard at work all around the globe, acting not only on what we already know but the increased information being obtained from the battlefield detainees and other sources around the world.

So it is very clear that we are going to be moving in other areas and it's going to be a long, deep and wide campaign as the president said from the beginning, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Air Force Major General Don Sheppard, once again thank you so much. We will see you again soon.

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