U.S. Marines Secure Kandahar Airport

26/05/2001| IslamWeb

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - Hundreds of U.S. Marines occupied the Kandahar airport Friday, carefully picking through unexploded weaponry and debris left by the Taliban as the U.S. military relocated its main base in southern Afghanistan.
It was the biggest Marine deployment since the U.S. military established a firebase in southern Afghanistan in late November. Some landed at the airport in helicopters in the early morning darkness.
Others arrived in a convoy of Humvees, pickup trucks and armored personnel carriers, and Afghans greeted the Marines as they passed by, waving AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
``They are happy to see us, but be aware there are still a lot of people in there who don't like us,'' Gen. James Mattis warned the soldiers before they left Camp Rhino, their base in the Afghan desert.
The Marines said they fired no shots during the night-time mission to assume control of the international airport but later reported they saw what might have been muzzle flashes from small arms at a location now labeled as a danger area.
Flights of supplies and troops were also suspended in the afternoon after military intelligence spotted a threat from a possible anti-aircraft weapon near the airport, but officers said concern over the threat was diminishing.
``Until they eradicate that threat, or at least identify that threat, they're not going to bring any other aircraft in,'' Lieutenant James Jarvis, a Marine spokesman, told reporters.
The main Marine force is expected to relocate to the airport, leaving what essentially will be a rear guard at Camp Rhino.