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October
15, 2001
Marwan
Bishara
Clash
of Civilizations? Hardly
Patrick
Cockburn
Modern
War in
A Medieval Village
October
13, 2001
Carl
Estabrook
Letters
to Editors
Molly
Secours
War:
The Procter and Gamble Perspective
Alexander
Cockburn
War
Can't Save the Economy
October
12, 2001
Imran
Khan
Try
Them in Court
Vijay
Prashad
War
in a Passive Voice
Patrick
Cockburn
Bombing
the Taliban
October
11, 2001
David
Vest
Bob
Dylan and 9/11
Amb.
Edward Peck
Bush
War Plan "Dumb"
Hani
Shukrallah
West
Is As West Does
Patrick
Cockburn
Looming
Humanitarian Crisis
October
10, 2001
Tom
Turnipseed
Earth
is Our "Homeland"
Steve
Perry
What
Is To Be Done?
Simon
Jenkins
The
Dumbest Weapon
Tariq
Ali
The
Pakistan Maelstrom
Cockburn/St.
Clair
The
Empire Strikes Back
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October 26,
2001
In Afghanistan
Northern Alliance
Assails
US Bombing Strategy
By Patrick Cockburn
in Jabal Saraj
The
Independent
Opposition forces in Afghanistan criticised the
US air strikes for not bombing the Taliban frontline where most
of the ruling movement's soldiers are now dug in after leaving
the cities.
The complaint came amid reports that
opposition fighters have suffered a big setback in their attempt
to capture the strategic northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif from
the Taliban.
"I can understand the frustration
among our senior commanders about the strikes," said Dr
Abdullah Abdullah, the Foreign Minister of the opposition Northern
Alliance. "They think they are too limited. Since the Taliban
are concentrated in the frontline it would be better to bomb
them there. It's obvious."
US planes have been making episodic attacks
on the front north of Kabul but not the massive raids opening
the road to the Afghan capital the Northern Alliance had
hoped for. The Alliance has, therefore, not launched any ground
attacks or even brought up reinforcements.
The only Northern Alliance offensive
under way is towards Mazar-i-Sharif, the largest city in northern
Afghanistan. But this attack appears to have faltered after a
Taliban counter-attack. "Militarily our Mojahideen made
mistakes," said an Afghan opposition source. "They
didn't co-ordinate their attacks." One column of anti-Taliban
soldiers advancing on the city outdistanced other columns coming
from different directions and was then forced to retreat by the
Taliban counter-offensive.
Dr Abdullah claimed yesterday that the
Northern Alliance had never thought it would take Mazar-i-Sharif
immediately and it had made significant gains south of the city.
He added that the Taliban had an army of between 50,000 to 60,000
men and controlled 70 per cent of Afghanistan the real
figure is believed to be closer to 85 per cent and they
were difficult to displace.
Asked about the comment of a US military
spokesman who said he was surprised by the toughness of the Taliban
soldiers in resisting American bombing, Dr Abdullah was caustic.
He pointed out that the Northern Alliance had itself been bombarded
by 2,000 rockets over a short period when it was besieged in
Kabul, the Afghan capital, five years ago, but said this had
not shaken its grip on power.
"I am not at all surprised that
the Taliban continues to resist," said Dr Abdullah at a
press conference in Jabal Saraj, 50 miles north of Kabul. "The
level of pressure on the Taliban is not enough to make them lay
down their arms and run away."
Despite Dr Abdullah's suave assurances
that the Northern Alliance had never expected a rapid advance
on Kabul, his tone now is very much at odds with what he was
saying only three weeks ago. He said then that it was possible
that Northern Alliance forces would be in the capital in a week.
He foresaw a Northern Alliance offensive "within days"
of the start of the American bombing.
This heady optimism has now changed.
The Northern Alliance forces have not moved anywhere. On the
Kabul front they have received no reinforcements or ammunition
supplies. Artillery pieces and rocket launchers are still in
the same positions they were a month ago.
Such shelling and US bombing which has
occurred has been heavily covered by the large number of foreign
journalists concentrated in Jabal Saraj. The fall of every bomb
is minutely described, sometimes giving the impression of full-scale
war, but in reality military activity has been very limited.
So far, at least, the US bombing has
clearly had an impact on the Taliban, but it has not transformed
the military balance in Afghanistan. The Northern Alliance is
still outnumbered and unwilling to commit its small forces until
the US has softened up its enemy. The air offensive has yet to
produce the large-scale defections the opposition were hoping
for.
Dr Abdullah said that the bombing could
be much more effective if it was better "co-ordinated"
with the US. He refused to expand on what form this co-ordination
should take, but he almost certainly means close air support
with air controllers on the ground directing the attacks on Taliban
targets of US
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