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CNN Live Sunday
Military Campaign Moves Into a New Phase
Aired October 21, 2001 - 15:25 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan has moved into a new phase with special operations forces on the ground, reports of possible cooperation between U.S. forces and the opposition Northern Alliance.
For some insight on this and some other matters, we turn now to our military analyst, General Wesley Clark -- good to see you, General Clark.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Nice to see you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. Let's get right to it. Let's talk a little about where the U.S. is striking and potentially the timetable. There were some hints today from Secretary of State Colin Powell that there is some urgency to all of this, because of impending winter in Afghanistan -- a very cruel winter.
Do you get the sense that the timetable is being accelerated in any way?
CLARK: I think there has been from the beginning a real rush to this -- to move ahead quickly. Partly that comes from the desire to break up the terrorist network, partly it's because there's a feeling, I think, that the longer this goes on, the greater the diplomatic fallout, the more difficult it is for Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and others to deal with the continuation of the bombing. Winter may be a condition. Ramadan has been there.
But, of course, during the Kosovo campaign, we bombed through Easter and Orthodox Easter. So Ramadan is probably less critical than other factors.
O'BRIEN: All right, Ramadan beginning November 17.
CLARK: Right.
O'BRIEN: Let's take a look at one of our maps and give people a sense of where some of these latest strikes have occurred. We'll just zoom in from a rather wide shot, all the way down into Afghanistan.
And, General, the fact that special operations forces, now reported on the ground in the southern region, is in and around Kandahar raises the prospect -- raises the stakes, if you will. And I'm curious, do you get the sense these sort of hit and run operations will become almost a routine occurrence as time goes on here?
CLARK: Well, I think that you'll see more of them. They'll never consider it routine, and they shouldn't, because every one of these if fraught with the possibility for disaster.
So each one has to be unique in and of itself. It's got to use different methods. It's got to have its own operational security. It's got to have a backup, and so each one has to be precisely reversed and planned.
But yet, there is no doubt there will be more of these.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now, we had zoomed down while you were talking into the Khyber Pass toward Kabul, if you will, using our animation, if we can go back to that for a moment. We have reports of an incident occurring at the Bagram Airfield, which is about 25 kilometers north of Kabul. I don't think it's at the top of that mountain, but that's the best I can do for you with this map.
And what was interesting to me about this, General Clark, is these F-18s apparently, No. 1, they did everything in daylight and did their strikes repeatedly, four strikes -- four passes through. No, 2, it appears that the Northern Alliance knew of this in advance. They told people there to stand back and watch, if you will.
How close a coordination is there with the Northern Alliance now, do you believe?
CLARK: Well, we've heard the reports of the special forces officers going in and talking, and what they've done on the ground I am sure procedures would be exchanged, and they would have looked at the plans. They would have determined how good a command of control the Northern Alliance really had over its front line of troops and did they know where they really were and so forth.
And then, this is the evidence -- the first evidence that we've heard out of strikes that really would be designed to support directly the advance of the Northern Alliance toward Kabul.
Now, this may take a series of days. It may be two or three pinpoint strikes or 20 or 30. We don't know. The guys on the ground will have to determine that. But it certainly is an indication of an additional access of operations -- special forces in the south, elite teams tracking Osama bin Laden's network, and pressure put on the Taliban in the north.
O'BRIEN: CNN's military analyst, General Wesley Clark, former NATO commander -- thanks very much for being with us. As always, we appreciate your insights.
CLARK: Thanks. Good to be with you, Miles.
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