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CNN Saturday Morning News

U.S. Detention Center in Kandahar Fills Up With Captured Fighters

Aired December 29, 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go live now to Afghanistan. The U.S. detention center at Kandahar Airport is filling up with captured fighters, and there's a change under way at that site as well. CNN's Bill Hemmer is staying on top of all the developments and he joins us now with the latest. Hello again, Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, hello. Good evening once again from Kandahar, 8:30 p.m. local time now. And you mentioned the detainees, let's talk about that item first of all.

Last night, the biggest single delivery of detainees yet here, 63 in all came on several different aircraft to the Kandahar Airport. The total number now, 125 being detained here in Kandahar. We are told, the marines tell us they can take many more, at least 250, given the current facilities they have operating.

With this latest group that came in though, Kyra, of the 63, we're told that 29 had suffered some sort of combat wound, broken bones here or there, possibly, again possibly from the Tora Bora bombing that was carried out over the past several weeks.

We're also getting indications that throughout the entire country of Afghanistan, there may be as many, there may be as many as 3,000 detainees countrywide, located at about 30 different centers and certainly they're going to take more here. The question is how many more and when will they come.

We do anticipate the strong possibility many more come again tonight, but again we won't know that for several hours. Oftentimes, they only land in the middle of the night here in Kandahar.

There's also continuing questions as to what happens next with these detainees, where will they go? Well the Pentagon this past week was talking about Guantanamo Bay, Cuba but that facility will not be ready for several weeks' time. So we can anticipate a number of them staying here, but eventually some will be transported, possibly to Cuba at a later date.

Now as for this airport itself, the U.S. Marines are here, about 2,000 strong right now and some elements also from the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy working alongside. They're called a joint operation. In military terms, they call that, we are turning the color purple. That's the word used by the military here. But what we anticipate, come around mid-January, sources indicate to us that the marines will then hand over, hand over the Kandahar Airport to elements of the U.S. Army, and the word we're getting right now, sources indicate say the 101st Airborne Division will take over this airport at this time.

Again, nothing's going to be official until the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld signs a deployment order, and again that's something we're going to have to watch from a distance over the next several weeks.

One more item to talk about here regarding the India-Pakistan issue. Again, it continues to intensify, a war of words along the border here and U.S. military officials here in Kandahar seem to be concerned quite a bit about the possibility that Pakistan could take its military assets now guarding the border with Afghanistan, and move them toward the border with India.

If that's the case, there's concern that it may detract from the current U.S. War on Terrorism. In fact, some high-ranking military officials from here in Kandahar were in Islamabad for the past two days talking with Pakistani military officials about that very issue.

But as the operation continues here in Kandahar, the military operation is still well underway. Let's go up to Tora Bora right now and pick up things with CNN's Walt Rodgers, who's watching Special Forces move throughout that region. Again, an area loaded with caves and a tunnel complex. Here's Walt watching things there tonight. Walter, good evening to you.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Bill. Throughout the day we've seen U.S. Special Forces moving from their base camp, about six kilometers from where I'm standing. But we're not really sure what they're doing. They get in their all terrain vehicles. They go up the road, which is about 200 meters from where I'm standing now.

They go up the mountain. So we decided to follow them today. We went up the mountain to see if we could perhaps chance upon them going through some caves.

What they had done was stationed themselves on a mountain ridge, quite a ways up into the Tora Bora Mountains, and they were working with the Eastern Alliance Afghan soldiers. And of course, as soon as they saw us, the U.S. Special Forces went to ground very fast. They ducked behind cover.

They did not want journalists to see them, which was interesting, because on the way up the mountain, it was almost as if they were displaying in their all terrain vehicles, as if they wanted to be seen, still shown operating in this area.

But once we got up into their theater of operations, up in the mountains, they clearly did not want to be seen and the Afghan soldiers with whom they were patrolling up there made it very clear we were unwelcome. We were sent packing back down the mountain. Interestingly, these same U.S. Special Forces soldiers upon, whom we chanced in the afternoon, came back down the mountain about dusk. They came down in their all terrain vehicles. They didn't want to be photographed. They had on their ski masks. They had their short M-16 rifles with the telescopic sights on them, went back to their base not far from here.

By way of footnote, we should also add that for the first time in two days now, we've seen a U.S. B-52 flying overhead, making a swing over the Tora Bora region, no bombs dropped. There have been no bombs dropped in Tora Bora, eastern Afghanistan for over a week now.

Now the Afghans are calling for an end to the bombing. The U.S. hasn't been bombing in several days. The last bombs were dropped in the host area, none in this particular area. The B-52 dropped no bombs, made about three, four, five passes and then swung south again toward Diego Garcia -- Bill.

HEMMER: Walter, quickly here, I know what you were reporting yesterday after you saw about 25 Special Forces move out of that area, packing up and moving out in a convoy. And again, I know you've seen more again today. Can you give us a sense of perspective as to whether or not the Special Forces are increasing or decreasing there in the Tora Bora region?

RODGERS: From what we saw, they're decreasing. Yesterday we saw 25, upwards of 25 Special Forces soldiers come down the mountains in their all terrain vehicles, in their pickup trucks, and as they were coming down the mountain, they had a full kit. They had their tents, their sleeping bags. It looked as if they were withdrawing from permanent station up on the mountaintop ridges.

Today, when they went back up again, there was half the number which came down yesterday. They had no kit to stay overnight. Indeed they did not stay overnight up there, and when we encountered those same Special Forces soldiers up there, there was a very low level of activity.

They were maintaining a low profile. They weren't patrolling. They weren't going in any caves. They were just sort of hanging out. And as I say, when dusk came, they came right back down the mountain. They have a camp about two and a half, three miles from here. Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Walter. Walter Rodgers watching things in Tora Bora. Walter, thank you. Back here in Kandahar, I want to show you an image we picked up several hours ago.

There was a mosque here on the airport grounds that was said to be the headquarters for the Taliban and al Qaeda in the final days of November. The information we have says the Special Forces that moved in here had a wicked fire fight to root out those Taliban and al Qaeda elements inside that mosque.

Well now, we see four American Marines, all Muslim, cleaning up the mosque. Many times they'll come here and pray throughout the day, but they've got a lot of cleanup to do. There are several holes, large holes in the ceiling there. There's bullet holes that riddle the outside of the mosque, and certainly there's a lot of debris and rubble that has littered the carpet there on the floor.

The Marines say that they'll work day to day making progress every day, and eventually they say they would like to get new carpeting laid down there out of respect for the mosque here on the airport grounds. Some of the images we caught today.

Quickly, I want to give a quick shout out to the Marines down at Camp Rhino, still about 1,000 there, about 80 miles southwest of here. We're told, Kyra, that they're watching our broadcast everyday and I think there's a little bit of jealousy going on right now.

We just want to say hello to the guys down there, and again they're going to shut down Rhino in a couple days, but job well done men, and a lot of folks up here recognize that as well. It was the footprint here in Afghanistan, and that has not gotten by anyone. Without Camp Rhino, the marines would not be here today. Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Bill, well said. Our Bill Hemmer in Kandahar, thanks so much.

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