Konduz has fallen, and you're going to see a lot of mopping up going on as people who have escaped and disappeared into the hills are being dug out by individual operations. 

You are also going to see now, with the move into the Kandahar area, the Marines. They have been inserted at a base reportedly south-southwest of Kandahar, which means it is not the main airport at Kandahar. They're from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, from the USS Pelelieu, and the 26th MEU, from the USS Bataan. The two amphibious assault ships resemble small aircraft carriers. 

IMPACT: The purpose of these Marines, as stated by the Pentagon, is to establish a base of operations. Once the base is established, several things can happen. It can be a base to receive more forces. The Marines can take part in action in and around Kandahar. They can be sent to interdict roads west, to Iran; east, to Kabul; and south, into Pakistan. 
 

U.S. aircraft, including fighter jets and AC-130 gunships, struck Kandahar from the sky on Sunday, contributing to the most intense fighting in Kandahar in weeks, according to reports from the ground. Heavy fighting continued early Monday, but it could not be determined who was participating

TACTICS: There are 2,200 Marines in each MEU. About 1,000 are combat infantry. The MEU is composed of a command element, a ground combat element (about a reinforced battalion), an air combat element (helicopters and fighters), and a combat support element. About 1,000 of them go forward and the rest remain on the ship. 

They were ferried in by helicopters, which are CH-53 Super Stallions and CH-46 Sea Knights. They have the ability to use Hueys and Cobras to go out of their base for operations. They have the AV-8B Harriers from the small carriers that can help with close air support. They are a small, self-contained fighting force that has heavier firepower than the special operations forces, which are composed mainly of 12- to 14-man teams.
They have light armored vehicles, they have machine guns and mortars, they have TOW missiles, they have Javelin anti-armor and anti-vehicle weapons. These forces can be tailored. It doesn't mean they're going to take them all with them. It gives Gen. Tommy Franks much more flexibility than he had before. 

STRATEGY: I think all of this means that we're getting ready to go after the al Qaeda cells and bin Laden himself. I think the ability of bin Laden to move to other locations has been severely restricted with the rapid movement of Northern Alliance and opposition forces. He has fewer and fewer places to go internationally that will accept him, and he has fewer and fewer places to hide in the country. 

Wherever he goes, he's going to have to have a lot of security and he's going to have a fairly big signature in terms of people, communications, supplies and equipment. Wherever we go after him and al Qaeda, it's going to be a serious fight. 
But I think the net is getting very, very tight, and I think we're going to see actions against bin Laden and al Qaeda much sooner than any of us thought. Most us were thinking it would take a long, long time, maybe into next summer. I think it's going to happen much more rapidly than that. 

The Marines are to interdict Taliban and al Qaeda troops and gather intelligence on the whereabouts of suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden and his followers -- activities similar to those now being played by U.S. Army special forces inside Afghanistan, a U.S. official said. 

If you mounted an operation against bin Laden right now, you would likely see Marines involved, the special operations troops involved, and of course air power involved from the Marines, the Air Force and the Navy. And you could also bring in other forces to enhance that operation.