Posted on 09/21/2001 2:30:47 PM PDT by Doomonyou
Heavy Fighting as Afghan Opposition Attacks Taliban
KABUL (Reuters) - Fierce fighting raged in northern Afghanistan on Friday as Taliban troops battled opposition forces seeking revenge for the assassination of their leader while taking advantage of threats of U.S. strikes.
The latest battle broke out on Thursday in a region south of Balkh and in Dara-i-suf in neighboring Samangan province where the opposition Northern Alliance, headed by Burhanuddin Rabbani, reported the capture of several Taliban posts and dozens of villages, sources told Reuters.
There were also reports that the leader of Afghanistan's Uzbek minority, General Rashid Dostum, had concentrated a considerable force near the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif to fight the Taliban.
With the world focusing on how the Taliban respond to demands from the United States to hand over wanted fugitive Osama bin Laden, the puritanical Islamic movement's opponents have been stepping up their activities inside the country.
The United States has vowed to hunt down bin Laden -- who lives as a "guest" of the Taliban -- and punish his protectors.
On Friday, the Northern Alliance said it had driven the Taliban out of Dara-i-suf -- which lies on a strategic Taliban south-north supply line -- but the Taliban had struck back with air power.
"After our victories, the Taliban have launched a massive counterattack with help of their air force but so far they have not succeeded in regaining any of the lost grounds," spokesman Ashraf Nadeem told Reuters. He spoke by satellite phone from within the five percent of Afghanistan controlled by the opposition.
Nadeem said "dozens" of Taliban fighters had been killed, while Northern Alliance casualties were put at four dead and 10 wounded.
The figures could not be verified because of the remoteness of the rugged region. The Taliban confirmed fighting had erupted in the area but gave no other details.
The Northern Alliance suffered a major blow last week when two suicide assassins posing as Arab journalists fatally wounded military commander General Masood.
The next day hijackers seized four aircraft in the United States and flew three of them in suicide attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.
Bin Laden has been linked to both plots.
Russia's Itar-Tass news agency, meanwhile, reported that Afghan Uzbek leader General Dostum had concentrated a huge force near Mazar-i-Sharif in the north.
Dostum rose through the ranks of the Afghan army after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and has switched sides several times as the country's government has changed.
The fighters of the Uzbek warlord were already involved in what the agency described as an effective "people's rebellion."
The report estimated his forces at 15,000, but none of the details could be independently confirmed.
In 1998, Dostum had to flee Afghanistan after Taliban forces took over territories in the north populated by ethnic Uzbeks. Earlier this year he joined the Northern Alliance.
I would guess we have some forces in there right now (That covert stuff Bush talked about) and I would think there would be some coordination between the two. I don't think they will be fighting side by side.
We Could destroy what they have, but I remember the Ruski's having a rough time in that hell hole.
Mission accomplished!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.