Afghan Opposition forces have seized a river port near Tajikistan's border with Afghanistan, military sources in the Tajik capital Dushanbe said on Sunday. The Northern Alliance forces captured overnight the Sherkhan port on the Pyandzh River in north-eastern Afghanistan, which had been controlled by the Taliban, a Tajik military source said. A Russian military source said that the town of Imam Sahib, also near the Tajik-Afghan frontier had fallen to the Northern Alliance, which has been battling Afghanistan's ruling Islamic regime. The reports have not been confirmed by the Afghan Opposition's embassy in Tajikistan. If true, the capture represents a further blow to Afghanistan's Islamist militia following the fall of the strategic northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
Control of the port and town near the Tajik border could open up key supply routes to former Soviet Tajikistan, which the opposition Northern Alliance uses as its rear base.
Bureau Report