Largest Offensive of Afghanistan War
NGUYEN: Welcome back, everybody. U.S. Marines are preparing to launch the biggest offensive yet of the 8-year-old Afghanistan war. Now thousands of Marines, NATO and Afghan troops, are massing around Taliban stronghold of Marjah which is in the Helmand Province. Want to get more on that from CNN's Frederik Pleitgen who is in Kabul. Fred, what is the strategy here with this offensive?</s>FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, Betty, the preliminary operations for this big offensive have begun in this past week. What we've been seeing is that we've been seeing the Marines, also some British soldiers, and some Afghan soldiers take key junctions around the town of Marjah to try and prevent Taliban operatives from slipping out of there. Now one of the interesting things that's been going on over the past days and weeks that we've been talking about is that this offensive is pretty much the worst-kept secret here in Afghanistan. It's been advertised by the U.S. Military. And one of the things they say they want to do is they want to get civilians prepared for what's going to happen, to either leave the area or to get into their houses and stay there and be prepared to stay there for several days. That's been the main objective to try and keep civilian casualties as low as possible. Now the other big strategy in all of this of course is to try and get Taliban who may not be hardcore Taliban, to leave the ranks of the Taliban, maybe turn themselves in, maybe turn in their weapons to try and get this offensive going with as few casualties on all sides as possible. Now having said all that, Betty, the Marines say they do expect some very heavy firefights to be going on in the town of Marjah. They say this is not going to be an easy operation. And one of the things also, because this has been advertised in such a massive way beforehand, the Taliban have of course had time to prepare, to plant bombs in the area. And that has been the number one killer of U.S. soldiers and marines in Afghanistan, really -- all the way. That has been those improvised explosive devices -- Betty.</s>NGUYEN: Yes, that's always been a very problematic there. So give us another idea, too, of -- you know, they're up against a lot right now. Some of the dangers that they face in this offensive.</s>PLEITGEN: Well, I mean, the danger starts first of as in almost all offensives here in Afghanistan with the terrain. The terrain down there is very difficult. There's a set of irrigation canals which were actually built by the U.S. in the 1960s that make this land very lush, they're very hard to cross even with tanks, even with breaching vehicles, the kind that the marines would use. So just advancing in that terrain is very difficult. On the other hand now, you have an urban area that they have to move into. It's a very large town. About 80,000 people live there. And it's been under Taliban control for years really now so they have had time to prepare. You're going to see booby trapped houses most probably. You're going to see improvised explosive devices planted in all sorts of different areas, and of course urban combat is always something that is very, very difficult to do. It's very difficult to do without trying to endure as many casualties as possible. So certainly it's a dangerous operation to start with, Betty. And then of course you have the new mindset of the U.S. military here in Afghanistan which means trying to keep the civilian casualties as low as possible, and that could mean more risks for American marines as they try to prevent casualties on the civilian side. And maybe for instance not put a house under fire where they've been receiving fire from because there might be civilians in that house. So a very, very dangerous, very difficult operation in a very hard terrain.</s>NGUYEN: Yes, no doubt. Hey, maybe you can give us some more information on this, too. That security breach at the base in eastern Afghanistan yesterday? Have you learned even more about that?</s>PLEITGEN: That's something that's of great concern to the U.S. military and certainly something where we've also been getting information not just Afghanistan but also from Washington as well. Apparently what happened late last night is that a suicide bomber managed to get onto a base, onto a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan, close to the Pakistan border, and blew himself up. Now the Afghan authorities are telling us that he made it into the sleeping area. U.S. military has not been willing to confirm that. However both sides are telling us that five U.S. soldiers were wounded in this. And the thing that makes this so very disturbing for the U.S. military is that apparently he was wearing a uniform either of the Afghan police or of the Afghan Border police so a major security breach there -- Betty.</s>NGUYEN: Hmm. OK. Frederik Pleitgen, joining us live. Fred, thank you so much for that. Want to get back to this story now. Deicing alone may not be enough in Dallas. They just -- look at this. They got 11.2 inches of snow yesterday. That is a one-day record for the area. It's also causing a big headache for travelers. Dozens of flights canceled out of Dallas today. And the same goes for Atlanta. Delta alone is canceling around 800 flights today. About 1,000 Delta flights had to be canceled because of weather on Wednesday and Thursday. So pack your patience, folks. You know, it's all part of a major winter storm that is hitting the southeast right now. And meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is live in the Severe Weather Center tracking it all for us. OK, Jacqui, who's about to get hit next?</s>JERAS: So, you know, Betty, when you put it in perspective, you know, people in the north are going to be, like.</s>NGUYEN: Yes.</s>JERAS: Just a couple of inches of snow, no big deal, but when you don't have plows, you don't have the proper salting and sanding trucks, this is going to be impacting a whole lot of people and rough travel and best that most of you just stay home today.</s>NGUYEN: Yes, exactly. I was about to say, that is the best advice. Just stay inside where it's warm. OK, Jacqui. Thank you.</s>JERAS: Sure.</s>NGUYEN: Well, churches in ruins. Two more added to the list. Investigators in Texas sifting through the wreckage for clues trying to find who is setting the fires.