US military briefing on plane crash which killed six

(1 Dec 2004) 1. Set up Major General Eric Olson 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Major General Eric Olson, Operational Commander for US Forces in Afghanistan: "It took off, headed up towards Bamyyan, indications that we have are that it got into a valley and tried to gain altitude quickly. The pilot apparently recognised he was not going make altitude quickly enough and tried to make a very dramatic turn, didn't make it and crashed into a very narrow valley. The aircraft essentially broke into pieces on the ground, there were six people on board, and they were all killed." 3. Cutaway hands 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Major General Eric Olson, Operational Commander for US Forces in Afghanistan: "Operation Lighting Freedom, that's the codename for the operation. In terms of the combat operations it will consist of two things: one is we will be looking for the enemy's winter sanctuaries in attempting to attack him in those sanctuaries while he is resting and re-fitting, staging and planning. The other thing we are going to look at is controlling infiltration across the border. We are kind of re-setting along the border with Pakistan so that come springtime, when the enemy might want to infiltrate from Pakistan into Afghanistan, we will be able to control it, perhaps a bit better than it has been done in the past." 5. Cutaway badge 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Major General Eric Olson, Operational Commander for US Forces in Afghanistan: "There actually will be a new border checkpoint in an around Khowt. We have already established special forces by Torkham Gate, and we are looking at a couple of other possibilities too." 7. Cutaway badge 8. SOUNDBITE (English) Major General Eric Olson, Operational Commander for US Forces in Afghanistan: "Right now Nengarhar is an area of real interest for the coalition in terms of the hunt for the senior leadership of al-Qaida. We have actually engaged, captured, and killed foreign fighters there, but nobody who is close to the senior leadership. That said, the captured are being interrogated, and we are getting intelligence from them." 9. Major General Eric Olson seated 10. SOUNDBITE (English) Major General Eric Olson, Operational Commander for US Forces in Afghanistan: "The number of special operations forces in Afghanistan has stayed constant. I think we are constantly adjusting the focus of the intelligence effort just based on the evolving situation. It is steady focus on al-Qaida senior leadership, that is the main effort over here, no doubt about it." 11. Major General Eric Olson seated STORYLINE: Search teams have recovered the bodies of six American soldiers who died when their plane crashed in Afghanistan's snow-covered mountains after initial search efforts were complicated by bad weather and difficult terrain, US military officials said on Tuesday. Major General Eric Olson, operational commander for US forces in Afghanistan, said the plane crashed while en route to Shinband, in Herat province. The names of the deceased have not yet been released. During a briefing at the main US Base at Bagram, north of Kabul, Olson also said thousands of US soldiers were preparing an operation against Taliban insurgents to preempt an expected spring offensive which could upset plans for Afghan parliamentary elections. He said the operation will begin within days of the December 7 inauguration of Hamid Karzai as Afghanistan's first directly elected president - an event that itself is a potential target. He also said the aim is to tighten the Afghan-Pakistan border by sending special forces on raids against rebel leaders. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...