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Northern Alliance claims fresh victories
Afghanistan`s Northern Alliance forces have taken all the Taliban-held positions along the Sharatai front line in northeast Takhar province, an Opposition commander said on Monday.
Afghanistan's Northern Alliance forces have taken all the Taliban-held positions along the Sharatai front line in northeast Takhar province, an Opposition commander said on Monday.
Dozens of Taliban Islamic militia troops were killed in the fighting, he said, but there was no word on Opposition casualties. Overnight "we succeeded in dislodging the Taliban from their positions. Dozens of them were killed and others fled to neighbouring Kunduz province to seek refuge," said commander Mohammad Shah Ali.
"We captured five prisoners who were executed," he added.
About 50 Opposition tanks and armoured vehicles backed by 2,000 troops took part in the fighting which erupted close to the border with Tajikistan.
Taliban positions perched on hills a few kilometres from the opposition's posts were completely deserted on early Monday, an AFP correspondent saw. On Sunday, troops of the Northern Alliance, bursting out from the newly won city of Mazar-i-Sharif, drove south, west and northeast to press their advantage in the five-week-old US-led military offensive to topple the Taliban.
Alliance foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah said Opposition fighters had captured the central city of Bamiyan and Taloqan, capital of Takhar, and were moving towards the province of Kunduz bordering Tajikistan.
The Taliban denied they had lost Taloqan, but confirmed the loss of five northern provinces after what they termed a "strategic withdrawal" aimed at avoiding casualties and consolidating their forces.
"There's been quite a turnaround in the war," Secretary of State Colin Powell told NBC television, commenting on the Northern Alliance's progress.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told US television networks that hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters were killed in Mazar-i-Sharif, and Northern Alliance foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah said the ruling militia had lost the bulk of their forces across northern Afghanistan.
Also among the casualties was a French radio journalist killed on Sunday when the Northern Alliance troops she was with fell into a Taliban ambush.
Meanwhile, Abdullah, speaking to journalists in Jabul Seraj, north of Kabul, did not rule out a move on the capital, even though US President George W Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, have warned against this.
"We think it would be better if they were to 'invest' the city, make it untenable for the Taliban to continue to occupy Kabul," Powell said on Sunday, echoing statements made earlier by Bush.
Bureau Report
Dozens of Taliban Islamic militia troops were killed in the fighting, he said, but there was no word on Opposition casualties. Overnight "we succeeded in dislodging the Taliban from their positions. Dozens of them were killed and others fled to neighbouring Kunduz province to seek refuge," said commander Mohammad Shah Ali.
"We captured five prisoners who were executed," he added.
About 50 Opposition tanks and armoured vehicles backed by 2,000 troops took part in the fighting which erupted close to the border with Tajikistan.
Taliban positions perched on hills a few kilometres from the opposition's posts were completely deserted on early Monday, an AFP correspondent saw. On Sunday, troops of the Northern Alliance, bursting out from the newly won city of Mazar-i-Sharif, drove south, west and northeast to press their advantage in the five-week-old US-led military offensive to topple the Taliban.
Alliance foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah said Opposition fighters had captured the central city of Bamiyan and Taloqan, capital of Takhar, and were moving towards the province of Kunduz bordering Tajikistan.
The Taliban denied they had lost Taloqan, but confirmed the loss of five northern provinces after what they termed a "strategic withdrawal" aimed at avoiding casualties and consolidating their forces.
"There's been quite a turnaround in the war," Secretary of State Colin Powell told NBC television, commenting on the Northern Alliance's progress.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told US television networks that hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters were killed in Mazar-i-Sharif, and Northern Alliance foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah said the ruling militia had lost the bulk of their forces across northern Afghanistan.
Also among the casualties was a French radio journalist killed on Sunday when the Northern Alliance troops she was with fell into a Taliban ambush.
Meanwhile, Abdullah, speaking to journalists in Jabul Seraj, north of Kabul, did not rule out a move on the capital, even though US President George W Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, have warned against this.
"We think it would be better if they were to 'invest' the city, make it untenable for the Taliban to continue to occupy Kabul," Powell said on Sunday, echoing statements made earlier by Bush.
Bureau Report