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US pounds Taliban frontline positions
US B-52 bombers pounded Taliban positions on the northeastern frontline close to the border with Tajikistan early on Thursday, opposition officials said.
US B-52 bombers pounded Taliban positions on the northeastern frontline close to the border with Tajikistan early on Thursday, opposition officials said.
It was the third time the key frontline area in northeastern Afghanistan has come under attack from US warplanes after similar raids on Tuesday and Sunday.
The latest pre-dawn attack which started around 4 am seemed to be the heaviest so far with the explosions shaking the town of Khwaja Bahauddin and shattering windows some 25 km away. General Baryalai, deputy defence minister for the opposition Northern Alliance, said by telephone that about 15 bombs had been dropped on the same Taliban positions targetted earlier this week. More than four hours later the raids were continuing.
Increased pressure has been put on frontlines in recent days amidst reports that the opposition Northern Alliance is preparing an offensive on the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
But Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel made a rare appearance in front of foreign reporters in the militia`s headquarters of Kandahar late on Wednesday to insist the regime`s leadership was determined not to give in to the military assault.
The foreign minister, who has been at the centre of rumour that he might be at the centre of a breakaway movement, said: "There is no split in the Taliban. This is the claim of our opponents." Normally a prominent Taliban spokesman, Mutawakel has been quiet since the start of the US-led airstrikes against the militia over its alliance with alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden.
His absence led to rumours he had gone to Pakistan to defect or hold secret negotiations. But he strongly denied this and said fighting the United States was the only way left for the Taliban.
"The time for talks with the United States is over," he said. "They want a military solution and they have closed the door on negotiation."
US warplanes have pounded Kandahar since air strikes started on October 7. Reporters were taken to one dispensary where the Taliban said 13 people were killed in a dawn raid on Wednesday.
The militia now says the death toll from more than three weeks of bombing had risen to 1,500 civilians, 500 more than previously claimed.
The United States has strongly contested the figures and said on Wednesday its bombing was causing crippling damage to the Taliban command. A B-52 Stratofortress bomber was seen in action in the heaviest bombings to date on the Taliban frontlines north of Kabul, reporters said.
Stufflebeem, while not commenting directly on Wednesday`s strikes, said B-52s had and would be used to carpet Taliban positions with unguided bombs.
Bureau Report
It was the third time the key frontline area in northeastern Afghanistan has come under attack from US warplanes after similar raids on Tuesday and Sunday.
The latest pre-dawn attack which started around 4 am seemed to be the heaviest so far with the explosions shaking the town of Khwaja Bahauddin and shattering windows some 25 km away. General Baryalai, deputy defence minister for the opposition Northern Alliance, said by telephone that about 15 bombs had been dropped on the same Taliban positions targetted earlier this week. More than four hours later the raids were continuing.
Increased pressure has been put on frontlines in recent days amidst reports that the opposition Northern Alliance is preparing an offensive on the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
But Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel made a rare appearance in front of foreign reporters in the militia`s headquarters of Kandahar late on Wednesday to insist the regime`s leadership was determined not to give in to the military assault.
The foreign minister, who has been at the centre of rumour that he might be at the centre of a breakaway movement, said: "There is no split in the Taliban. This is the claim of our opponents." Normally a prominent Taliban spokesman, Mutawakel has been quiet since the start of the US-led airstrikes against the militia over its alliance with alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden.
His absence led to rumours he had gone to Pakistan to defect or hold secret negotiations. But he strongly denied this and said fighting the United States was the only way left for the Taliban.
"The time for talks with the United States is over," he said. "They want a military solution and they have closed the door on negotiation."
US warplanes have pounded Kandahar since air strikes started on October 7. Reporters were taken to one dispensary where the Taliban said 13 people were killed in a dawn raid on Wednesday.
The militia now says the death toll from more than three weeks of bombing had risen to 1,500 civilians, 500 more than previously claimed.
The United States has strongly contested the figures and said on Wednesday its bombing was causing crippling damage to the Taliban command. A B-52 Stratofortress bomber was seen in action in the heaviest bombings to date on the Taliban frontlines north of Kabul, reporters said.
Stufflebeem, while not commenting directly on Wednesday`s strikes, said B-52s had and would be used to carpet Taliban positions with unguided bombs.
Bureau Report