NEWS TRANSCRIPT from the United States Department of Defense
DoD News Briefing
Victoria Clarke, ASD PA
Tuesday, March 12, 2002 - 11:30 a.m. EST

(Also participating was Air Force Brig. Gen. John W. Rosa, Jr., deputy director for current operations, Operations Directorate, the Joint Staff.)

AIR FORCE BRIG. GEN. JOHN W. ROSA : Good morning. Operation Anaconda continues. With much fewer in number, al Qaeda forces are still holed up in small pockets scattered throughout the area. In the last 24 hours we've flown more than 180 sorties over Afghanistan and dropped more than a hundred bombs, bringing the total bombs dropped in this operation to more than 2,500.

Q : Torie and the general, a senior Afghan general has been quoted in Gardez as saying that this battle is, for all intents and purposes, virtually over -- that U.S. and Afghan forces have taken over the Shahi-Kot Valley and that remaining al Qaeda are fleeing. What do you have to say to that?

ROSA : I wouldn't characterize it as being over. Certainly the heaviest of fighting we've seen in the early days. The last 72 hours has been more sporadic, focused on smaller pockets of Taliban and al Qaeda. But in an area this big and this -- this diverse, with as many caves, I would say that there is still work to be done.

CLARKE : I think the characterizations we feel comfortable with are "winding down." I think the secretary used "mopping up." But there clearly is still work to be done, and there clearly are other pockets of resistance we expect will pop in other parts of Afghanistan.

Q : But is the U.S. willing to negotiate for surrender of these forces?

CLARKE : There are not negotiations for surrender. They can still have the means to surrender if they want. But we haven't seen any indications that they're inclined to do that.

Q : In other words, there's no pause in the U.S. offensive here for any kind of negotiation.

ROSA : That is correct. There is no pause.