[struwwelpeter]

I fear that every bullet supplied to Russia's surrogate "Northern Alliance" is a potential bullet fired towards our side when these fickle Pashtuni finally decide to switch sides.

Let's pretend they don't exist and do it ourselves.

[paul544]

Damn... Would have been nice to start the day with the news that Mazar-i-Sharif had fallen.

[piasa]

Related article, different source:

U.S.-BACKED REBELS LOSE GROUND

(excerpts)

But two of the warlords - Gen. Abdul Rashid Dotsom and Gen. Atta Mohammed - are bitter enemies whose forces fought each other during the Soviet occupation.

Rebel officials said Dotsom, a former Soviet ally, moved his forces on the outskirts of Mazar-e-Sharif, while the other warlords, apparently not communicating with him, pulled back, leaving Dotsom, in the words of one Pentagon official, "hung out to dry" and forcing him to pull back 40 miles.

The stalled offensive in is one of the reasons the Pentagon has not been as aggressive as expected in attacking north of Kabul.

[ppaul]

FYI

BUMP