Soldier Killed in Firefight with Taliban Remnants
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this morning in eastern Afghanistan with more on that death of a U.S. soldier. An Army spokesman says the man died as a result of a firefight between U.S. troops and what they believe to be al Qaeda and Taliban remnants. We have this update now from CNN's Karl Penhaul in Bagram, Afghanistan.</s>KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): General Richard Myers landed here in Afghanistan at the Bagram Air Base today just hours after U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan had come under fire in two separate incidents by suspected remnant guerrilla units of al Qaeda and the Taliban. General Myers, however, said that he wasn't overly alarmed by that situation. He didn't see it as an overall escalation in al Qaeda activities across the country. He did signal, however, that in war, casualties are inevitable.</s>GEN. RICHARD MYERS, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: We know there's going to be times that our forces have been shot at over here, U.S. forces have been shot at from time to time, and we're going to take some casualties, unfortunately. And we did have a tragic death last night, and -- but that, I don't think, has anything to do with the situation. The situation continues to get better over here. We're thinking very seriously about moving into what we call stability operations in most of the country.</s>PENHAUL: Regarding the attacks over this last week in Kabul, he has said that he doesn't necessarily believe that these can be linked to either the Taliban or al Qaeda, and he ruled out any indication that this could be part of a buildup of terrorist attacks in the capital. Making the linkage between the situation in Iraq and the current situation in Afghanistan, General Myers said that he didn't believe troops operations, troop levels, and equipment levels in Afghanistan would be scaled down to send off to Iraq. He said that for the foreseeable future, he could see troop levels remaining more or less stable in Afghanistan. We understand that there are about 7,000 American troops currently in Afghanistan. As far as operations in Iraq are concerned, General Myers said that his troops were ready to roll in the Gulf region any time the president called upon them. However, he said he didn't believe that war at this point was inevitable. He said that there were still political avenues that the politicians back in Washington are exploring.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, that was Karl Penhaul of Bagram, Afghanistan. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com</s>FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this morning in eastern Afghanistan with more on that death of a U.S. soldier. An Army spokesman says the man died as a result of a firefight between U.S. troops and what they believe to be al Qaeda and Taliban remnants. We have this update now from CNN's Karl Penhaul in Bagram, Afghanistan.</s>KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): General Richard Myers landed here in Afghanistan at the Bagram Air Base today just hours after U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan had come under fire in two separate incidents by suspected remnant guerrilla units of al Qaeda and the Taliban. General Myers, however, said that he wasn't overly alarmed by that situation. He didn't see it as an overall escalation in al Qaeda >