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CNN Live Sunday

Military Leaders Say No Timeline on Operation Anaconda

Aired March 10, 2002 - 17:04   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to the fighting in eastern Afghanistan. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff tells CNN there's no timeline for completing Operation Anaconda. General Richard Myers says it will continue until the al Qaeda and Taliban fighters are cleared out. CNN's Kathleen Koch is live at the Pentagon with more on that. Good evening, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Fredricka. Well, as you pointed out, the word that we're getting here at the Pentagon is that this is mission-driven, this battle, not time-driven. And so, until the mission is accomplished, the fighting won't end.

U.S. B-52 bombers today continued pummeling those pockets in the Shahi-Kot (ph) mountains where the Taliban and al Qaeda fighters remain dug in, though the precise number of those dug in does remain very difficult to determine.

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GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: Before we went in there, we heard everywhere from 200 to several thousand. We think there were hundreds, and what's left we think is a small part of that, but it's still going to take some time to figure that out. We think they are in smaller pockets now, not large concentrations, and we're going to have to go in and do the hard work to root them out.

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KOCH: Pentagon official estimate that some 500 to 700 enemy fighters have been killed in the battle thus far. Those officials also say that some of the U.S. casualties came in the early stages of the battle last Saturday. One of the U.S.-trained Afghan units did not perform as expected, leaving U.S. troops to come in and pick up the slack. Those officials also say that the enemy fighters seem to know that a U.S. offensive was coming -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Kathleen, as the troops there in eastern Afghanistan are now kind of refueling and regathering in the Bagram air force base there, is it also safe to say that they also may be restrategizing?

KOCH: Well, at this point, what we're hearing is that the strategy remains the same, that they are going into those mountains to try to flush out the remaining fighters holed up there, looking for any signs of perhaps of Osama bin Laden, though they have not found any definite indications of him. No confirmations of that videotape that "TIME" magazine -- or the audio tape "TIME" magazine reported was found. And also keeping their eyes, Fredricka, on other hot spots that might pop up in other places in Afghanistan where the U.S. might have to step in.

WHITFIELD: Thanks very much, Kathleen Koch, from the Pentagon this evening.

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