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CNN Live Sunday

U.S. Forces Involved in Campaign Against al Qaeda in Eastern Afghanistan

Aired March 03, 2002 - 18:01   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.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: And now to eastern Afghanistan where U.S. and Afghan forces are involved in an intense campaign against suspected al Qaeda and Taliban forces. The joint campaign is said to be the largest offensive in Afghanistan this year. CNN's Kathleen Koch reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The fiercest ground fighting this year, the Pentagon says U.S. warplanes have since Friday dropped more than 270 bombs on targets, including vehicles, troops, caves, and anti-aircraft artillery. AH-64 Apache helicopters have sustained damage from enemy fire in what the Pentagon calls intense heavy combat actions. The offensive comes in a rugged, mountainous region, the U.S. military has for months suspected was a haven for several hundred regrouping Taliban and al Qaeda forces. U.S. lawmakers share their concern.

SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R-AL), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: There's a good many there. They're heavily armed and they're trying to disrupt everything we're going to do. If we don't go after them now and destroy them now, it will get worse. We know the history of Afghanistan.

SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: We're in, in some ways a more difficult phase of the conflict in Afghanistan in the war on terror in Afghanistan than we've ever been in because of the failure to control the countryside, the warlords competing, the surrounding nations trying to regain or influence events.

KOCH: It's causing some to echo Afghan President Hamid Karzai's call this week to expand the International Peacekeeping Force beyond the capitol of Kabul.

MALEEHA LODHI, PAKISTANI AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: I think that's very important to insure that Afghanistan doesn't descend back into the violent chaos that we saw before, and that warlordism doesn't take root in Afghanistan.

KOCH: But U.S. military experts say that is easier said than done.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPHERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: The choice that you have is doing it through the Afghans themselves by training them and getting the cooperation of the power brokers in the various areas of Afghanistan or expanding largely the peacekeeping force itself, which can also become targets. It's not clear which is the way to go.

KOCH: Increasingly clear to some, the need for U.S. involvement, despite the risks.

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (D-CT), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: A number of our most significant allies are not going to be part of peacekeeping in Afghanistan unless we are, and therefore I think we must be.

KOCH (on camera): Most agree the latest offensive is a stark reminder that, while well underway, the job of eliminating terrorists and the remnants of the Taliban from Afghanistan is far from over. Kathleen Koch, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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