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CNN Saturday Morning News

Operation Anaconda Enters Second Week

Aired March 09, 2002 - 08:04   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: First we're going to go to Afghanistan and Operation Anaconda. The U.S. coalition offensive now enters its second week. The search-and-attack mission is being waged in harsh winter conditions high in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan.

CNN correspondents are covering every aspect of this story. Our Martin Savidge is in Bagram, but we begin with CNN's Nic Robertson in Gardez.

Hi Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, hi.

The latest from here is that reinforcements have continued to arrive through the day. Now, those are Afghan reinforcements. They're being drawn from areas around Kabul. They're being sent here by the Afghan defense ministry. There are expected to be between 600 and 1,000 troops arrive here through the day. We've seen heavy artillery pieces arrive. We've seen tanks drive into the city and multi-barreled rocket launchers arrive, as well.

Now, the security chief in Gardez tells us that current they are negotiating with Taliban and al Qaeda and their supporters in the mountains south of here for them to lay down their weapons. He told us they have two days to do that and if they don't, then these forces here will go into battle and join Operation Anaconda against those Taliban and al Qaeda.

Now, the military commanders here won't tell us, won't confirm the negotiations are ongoing, but they do say that they do want to find a peaceful solution first. And the fighters we have talked to here say that's the same for them, that they believe they need to get rid of al Qaeda and Taliban and they say they're ready to do it.

Also through the day here we've seen fighter aircraft flying in the skies overhead, heard what sounded like large bombers flying above the clouds, also heard large detonations in the mountains not far away. Some of them actually close enough or heavy enough, at least, to shake the ground here and rattle the windows in the town of Gardez -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, our Nic Robertson, thank you so much. Now we're going to move over to Bagram where Martin Savidge is standing by. And I want to point out Martin is the one that's bringing us our exclusive coverage right there from the front lines -- Martin, I've got to tell you, you've taken us along with the forces right there in the heart of the fighting. It's some of the best coverage we have seen thus far in this war against terror. We congratulate you.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, thank you very much. That's very kind.

We should tell you here in Bagram, the weather has finally broken and now in the background is the sound of aircraft revving up and occasionally the sound of helicopters. It is all an indication that Operation Anaconda, which had somewhat been on hold for the past two days weather wise, is now getting into gear. And as Nic pointed out, there are indications now that coalition forces joining with Afghan forces may be closing in for the kill or for the surrender of the al Qaeda-Taliban forces, if they choose to do so.

And that's exactly the point that coalition leaders are trying to make. The Taliban and al Qaeda have a choice or a vote. They can surrender or, if they continue fighting, they will be eliminated. Make no bones about it.

U.S. officials say that so far about 500 or more al Qaeda and Taliban fighters have been killed in the past eight days. They also reminded us that today is the 181st day since the attack on the World Trade Center and on the Pentagon and the crashing of that airliner in Pennsylvania.

And they also made one other mention, the fact that the Afghan forces are joining this fight is significant because they bring not only numbers, they will bring armor with them, and that could be essential in trying to flush some of those enemy forces out of the villages and perhaps even out of some of the caves that are notoriously used by the al Qaeda and Taliban.

We also asked was there any clear sign of Taliban leadership or al Qaeda leadership, say, Mullah Mohammed Omar or Osama bin Laden? No official comment, only to say that they have indications of what they call one significant target in the area.

No casualties reported by the coalition forces in the last 24 hours. Fighting has been relatively light, they say, primarily due to the fact that the weather has been bad and also because they say there just aren't as many enemy forces operating as there were eight days ago -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Martin, I know we're going to talk to you a little later on and in the next couple hours, but I have to ask you, how are you feeling, number one. And number two, do you finally feel like you are getting a real sense of what it's like to be in the middle of this war on terror?

SAVIDGE: Well, initially when this mission, when we were told about it, and supposedly I was hand selected by someone for reasons I don't know why, to be a part of Operation Anaconda...

(AUDIO GAP)

PHILLIPS: And a difficult signal there with our Martin Savidge. We definitely will re-ask him that question, bring him back to talk more about what it's like to be a part of the war there right from the front lines.

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