[Daryn Kagan, Cnn Anchor:] U.S. and Afghan troops declare Operation Anaconda a success. The coalition forces say they have seized control of the Shah-e-Kot valley. They are now on the hunt for enemy forces trying to melt back into the mountainside. Our Nic Robertson is in Gardez, with Shah-e-Kot valley, with the lay of the land. Nic, hello.
[Nic Robertson, Cnn Correspondent:] Daryn, we've just returned from Shah-e-Kot. What we found there was a large village area filled with mud-built compounds and houses, which have been extensively destroyed by an air assault, by the bombing of the last few days. Also, we saw a few bodies of dead Al Qaeda and Taliban in their fighting defensive positions on the outskirts of the village. When we were there, U.S. and Afghan forces were there. Afghan forces entering the village overnight. And in the early hours of the morning, they came from the north in one offensive, and from the south in the other direction, meeting in the middle, teaming up along the way with the U.S. special forces. Now what the commanders there told us was and what they have been telling us, was that in the last six days, there has been little accurate or sustained fire coming from that village area. And in their the offensive today, we saw little ground action, if you will, little evidence that the had really been a heavy fight on the ground. What they did tell us was that they surrounded the village from the mountains, and coming up from the plains of the site of the valley, the valley of the village, and as they move in on the village they believe that some Taliban and Al Qaeda escaped into the mountains, but little evidence, Daryn, there had been heavy fight on the ground or very many dead Al Qaeda or Taliban there to see.
[Kagan:] Nic, what not efforts to go into the caves, the caves that were a big benefit for Taliban and Al Qaeda for fighting? But as I understand, there are booby-traps with land mines and other explosives.
[Robertson:] Well, certainly talking with the commander of the U.S. special forces, he says his next mission was to regroup, resupply the troops up there on the mountain site and then scour the area around Shah-e-Kot Valley for these caves in portions, where Taliban and Al Qaeda might be hiding. Throughout the time, we were in the village and valley of Shah-e- Kot, helicopters were cris-crossing the area, looking for any Taliban and Al Qaeda who may have been hiding, and high on the mountain ridge line towards the east, which is one of the directions the Taliban and Al Qaeda may have fled in, were Canadian forces and also U.S. troops maintaining positions there, trying to stop Taliban and Al Qaeda moving out towards the east, and going further east around the area of the town of Khowst, which is between Shah-e-Kot Valley and Pakistan. Security, we are told, has been stepped up there in that area in an effort to try and stop those Al Qaeda and Taliban elements reaching Pakistan. So what is happening now is the area is being scoured, and security on the periphery of the Shah-e-Kot Valley is being stepped up.
[Kagan:] As you mentioned, all these the areas, Nic, I think people might have an image of one battlefield, but really Operation Anaconda is spread over an area that is 60 square miles.
[Robertson:] It's been spread over a massive area. It's focused very much on the area and the village of Shah-e-Khot, because is was that village it is believed that Taliban and Al Qaeda had their strong hold with the caves and camps dispersed around the area. In the early days of the operation, Afghans with U.S. special forces tried to enter the area from the south and from the north and northwest. They also on the eastern and western flanks of the operation had blocking forces to try and stop the Taliban and Al Qaeda from getting out that way. An Afghan commander we talked to today said what they had done on this offensive was to encircle the village on the valley area and then move in. But he did say that some Taliban and Al Qaeda have managed to escaped. These mountains, range of the villages, at about 8,500 feet. The mountains go way, way up, to about 1,200 feet. And for some of the elements who are familiar with that area, because they would have been some of them, familiar with the Mujahedeen caves that were built there. There are many ways in those mountains for people familiar with the mountains to egress out of the area and escape, and that appears to be what some of those elements who've been in that village have done.
[Kagan:] Nic Robertson in Gardez, Afghanistan. Nic, thank you very much. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com Success