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Afghan Opposition Captures Taliban Stronghold of Mazar-I-Sharif
KABUL, Nov 9 (News
Agencies) - Afghan opposition forces backed by ferocious U.S. airstrikes took control Friday of the vital northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, scoring their biggest victory of the U.S.-led offensive in Afghanistan.
"We have the entire city. The Taliban didn't put up a fight, they ran away," said Mohammad Ashraf Nadeem, spokesman for ethnic Tajik commander Atta Mohammad of the Northern Alliance.
Taliban sources quoted by the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) acknowledged the militia had withdrawn from the provincial capital, but added that they were "regrouping their forces outside the city."
The stunning opposition victory capped a four-day push from the south of Mazar-i-Sharif by Northern Alliance forces fighting from tanks, on foot and by horseback - and with heavy air support from U.S. bombers and strike aircraft.
"In a short period of time we entered Mazar-i-Sharif," said another commander, General Abdul Rashid Dostam. He added that 90 soldiers of the Taliban militia had been killed in the battle.
The victory, if it holds up, would create a strategic bridgehead on the north-central plains where the Americans could funnel supplies and U.S. troops to their campaign from nearby Uzbekistan.
It would give the anti-Taliban forces control of a major airport and would also split Taliban bastions in the northeast and west.
Mazar-i-Sharif is a big prize for the Northern Alliance, which was chased out of the city by the Taliban three years ago and has been struggling to prove itself to Washington as a worthy political and military force.
Finally, the taking of Mazar-i-Sharif would provide the United States with a badly needed triumph in its sometimes flagging month-long war on terrorism to avenge the September 11th kamikaze attacks on the United States.
At the same time, U.S. planes kept up their heavy hammering of the Taliban north of Kabul, and opposition commanders and officials suggested that the long-awaited push toward the capital might be coming soon.
Spokesmen of the Northern Alliance said most civilians had left Mazar-i-Sharif, which once had a population of more than 200,000. Dostam said no Taliban forces were present and "right now things look very calm."
Haji Mohammad Muhaqiq, another alliance commander, said the opposition had thrown 7,000-8,000 soldiers into the battle, and other spokesmen reported US special forces troops providing guidance. There was no immediate figure for the Taliban troop strength.
Taliban spokesmen said the militia had earlier rushed reinforcements to Mazar-i-Sharif.
Some 4,000 Islamic volunteers, mainly Pakistanis, were dispatched from Kabul on Thursday to fight alongside the Taliban, according to a spokesman for the group, Harakat Jehadi Islami.
But the Taliban said U.S. planes were bombing a main road leading north to Mazar-i-Sharif in the hope of knocking out convoys of troops streaming to help the regime.
Mazar-i-Sharif has a brutal history of fighting among the various Afghan ethnic groups, and the spokesmen for the Northern Alliance, composed mostly of minorities, went out of their way to promise no settling of accounts.
They said the opposition had declared an amnesty for any resident who had supported the Taliban and any military prisoners taken would be dealt with according to Islamic law.
"We won't enter Mazar-i-Sharif with a sense of revenge," added Muhaqiq, a senior commander from the Hazara Shiite ethnic minority.
North of Kabul, American planes pressed their intense bombing raids on Taliban positions, including deadly cluster bombs in their arsenal. Opposition commanders spoke of the prospects of an imminent push on the Afghan capital.
They said munitions were being delivered and some forces had already received major supplies of fuel and weapons. The information could not be confirmed independently.
In London, an Afghan opposition senior diplomat suggested their forces were poised for another "bigger" push against the ruling militia on two fronts.
"Things have changed militarily. The Taliban forces are weakening north of Kabul as well as in Mazar-i-Sharif," said Wali Masood, ambassador to London of ousted president Burhanuddin Rabbani.
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