Anna Coren witnesses Taliban firefight in Afghanistan

CNN’s Anna Coren was in Afghanistan last week, for 48 hours with the US Special Forces Unit.

But little did she know she would witness a firefight with the Taliban first hand.

“To be given this sort of access to US Special Forces is exceptionally rare. These soldiers are the best at what they do – they’re the US military’s elite – and to see them in action was a privilege. They’re based in Nejrab in eastern Afghanistan, a hotbed for the Taliban and insurgents. They had received intelligence an IED (improvised explosive device) maker was in the village and began making their way across open fields to the compound he was reportedly staying. That’s when we came under fire from three different locations. The insurgents were armed with machine guns, AK-47s and an RPG,” she said.

“My cameraman Mark Phillips (who is also Australian) and I ran with the Special Forces towards the compound. These soldiers don’t just return fire … they hunt down the enemy. The firefight lasted an hour but the Taliban had already fled. They drop their weapons or leave them with women and children. They know how to use the landscape and blend back into the population.

“We wanted to spend time with these soldiers because they’re continuing to take extraordinary risks almost 12 years into this war. While the world’s interest may have waned and many countries have already packed up and gone home, these guys are still putting their lives on the line every day.”

In 2010 Coren was also in the line of fire during a Philipinnes hostage crisis.

Since November the former CNN anchor has been a correspondent based at CNN’s Asia Pacific regional headquarters in Hong Kong.