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COVER STORY: NORTHERN ALLIANCE
Waiting In Hope
Though the Northern Alliance has arrayed its troops
on the Shomali plains, it will depend on decisive US air strikes to make
a dent in the Taliban defence
By Don Pathan in Dahan-e-Maidan, Afghanistan
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MISSION TIME: General Fahim Khan (centre) and Rabbani (right)
review Alliance troops in Jabal Saraj
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Sitting behind a sandbag on a rooftop watching
Taliban soldiers just 500 m away, an opposition Northern Alliance frontline
commander, Major Khata, talks about the shortage of ammunition and the
step up in American air strikes against the Taliban. "If the American
air strikes are adequate, then we won't need so much supplies," Khata
says. Minutes later, US war jets roar over the Shomali plains, about 45
km north of Kabul, dropping 12 bombs in a period of one hour on Taliban
positions just a kilometre from where Khata is sitting.
Though the strikes were far from what is commonly
referred to by military men as "carpet bombing", US attacks
in recent days have indeed intensified over previous weeks'. By the middle
of the week, US B-52 bombers were dropping the famed "daisy cutter"
bombs that are among the most powerful conventional munitions of their
kind.
It marked another major shift in the US bombing
strategy. There seemed to be a new sense of urgency to get results before
winter truly set in. America also seemed more open to coordinate its attacks
with the Northern Alliance forces. The coordination, which got off to
a slow start, came about after last week's meeting between US Central
Command chief General Tommy Franks and Northern Alliance Commander-in-Chief
General Mohammad Fahim in Dushanbe.
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| PLAIN PLAN: Heavy bombing by US aircraft,
like this B-52 bomber, has intensified to the delight of the Northern
Alliance |
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Prior to his meeting with Franks, Fahim had met
with Iranian leaders and Russian intelligence chiefs to secure continued
diplomatic and military support from the two countries. Soon after, US
Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld noted in Washington that although
there may be an "uneven degree of coordination" between the
two sides, the communication linkage was improving and he knew "for
a fact that in a number of cases the coordination is quite good".
If Rumsfeld gets his way, there is likely to
be an increase of US Special Forces personnel in north Afghanistan, working
with frontline commanders in pointing out targets for the American jets.
Currently, there are about 100-200 Special Forces personnel in the Alliance's
area, facilitating the humanitarian and ammunition airdrops, as well as
assessing the military situation on the ground.
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A northern
alliance advance towards Kabul will face stiff resistance. the Taliban
are well dug-in and any American support will be out of sync as
the two sides speak different languages.
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Northern Alliance Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah
called the number of US military officials on the opposition-held territory
"modest" and dismissed suggestions that American ground troops
would be fighting alongside the Alliance soldiers in the event of an all-out
offensive against the Taliban.
Last week, as the US and the Alliance were jumping
in bed with each other, preparations for a thorough offensive against
Kabul were clearly under way. Tanks and track vehicles, including truck-mounted,
multiple-barrel rocket launchers, were being mobilised around the Shomali
plains from nearby Kapissa province, northeast of Kabul. Construction
work on a small airstrip in Gulbahar on the northeast end of the Shomali
plains is near completion. With snow falling on the Hindu Kush, transporting
goods and ammunitions from Tajikistan through the land route would be
out of question in the coming weeks.
Also, this past week, about 1,000 soldiers from
the Zaparti strike unit were ordered to move back to their post in the
Shomali from the northern front along the Tajikistan border.
On the outskirts of the town of Charika, which
last week came under rocket attacks that killed two and injured nearly
20 people, troops in fresh new uniform were seen carrying out military
exercises-jumping out of flatbed trucks on the old road to Kabul and dodging
horse buggies and mules as they rushed to take up positions under the
close watch of their commander.
Abdullah has made it clear that advancing into
Kabul will not depend on the political outcome of the ongoing dialogue
between all parties concerned, including former king Mohammed Zahir Shah,
looking to form an interim government in a post-Taliban Afghanistan.
In a show of force last week Burhanuddin Rabbani,
the Alliance's president, reviewed several thousand troops as scores of
foreign reporters looked on the parade field which was filled with shouts
of "Allah hu akbar (God is great)". As Rabbani gave his men
a lengthy pep talk, troops in the formation broke rank and turned their
heads to the south towards the Shomali plains to watch US jets taking
out Taliban positions along the frontline.
But as the US intensifies its air war against
Afghanistan and terrorists suspected to be loyal to Osama bin Laden, there
is still a big question mark over whether the opposition can take on the
Taliban and its foreign friends.
The Alliance's strength is estimated at about
15,000-20,000 fighters. Its armour includes T-62 and T-55 main battle
tanks, BMP 1 and BMP 2 armoured fighting vehicles, D-30 122-mm artillery
pieces and a range of mobile truck-mounted multiple-barrelled rocket launchers.
There are only two MI-35 Soviet-built attack
helicopters and no fix-wing ground attack aircraft-the essential hardware
needed to take out Taliban tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles
that are heavily dug-in and camouflaged in the heart of the Shomali plains
that sits in between the Alliance's stronghold in the Panjshir Valley
and Kabul.
Abdullah says his men are in the highest state
of readiness but frontline commanders complain of a lack of ammunition,
fuel, food and the fact that their men receive their meagre $10 (Rs 480)
monthly salary only once every six months.
Taliban troop strength has been estimated at
about 40,000 fighters-including 10,000 Arabs, Pakistanis, Chechens, Uzbeks
and other Muslim radicals from south-east Asia, all belonging to bin Laden's
Al Qaida movement.
Moreover, any advance towards Kabul is likely
to face stiff resistance. The Taliban are well dug-in; any air support
from American jets is likely to be out of sync as the two sides do not
speak the same language; and the mud houses and high walls around villages
are likely to serve as obstacles for advancing ground units.
Up north-a week after experiencing a major set-back
following what was billed as an ill-conceived military plan-the Alliance
on Tuesday claimed to have made a considerable advance on the strategic
northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif near the border with Uzbekistan after
US jets cleared the way through intense bombing. The claim could not be
independently verified.
Despite the renewed vigour in the assaults by
both the US and the Northern Alliance, the siege of Afghanistan continues
to be an uphill battle.
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