MONDAY NOVEMBER 12 2001
Taleban in retreat as allies march on Kabul
FROM ANTHONY LOYD IN CHARIKAR, AFGHANISTAN AND MARTIN FLETCHER IN WASHINGTON
MORE than 20,000 Mujahidin were poised in the darkness of the early hours this morning, waiting for the signal to launch themselves towards the Afghan capital Kabul 25 miles to the south.
Two columns of Northern Alliance fighters, each 10,000-strong and backed by up to 50 tanks, were ready to storm Taleban positions and strike respectively southwards along the New and Old Roads leading to Kabul, while an additional assault group of 2,000 stood by to clear Taleban positions in villages bypassed by the advance. A further 3,000 men were being held as a mobile reserve.
News of the impending offensive came as the Northern Alliance claimed to have Taleban forces on the run across northern Afghanistan yesterday.
Alliance spokesmen claimed to have built on Friday’s capture of the strategic city of Mazar-i Sharif by seizing several other key northern towns, surrounding thousands of Taleban forces in Kunduz, capturing Taloqan and opening a new front by advancing on the Taleban stronghold of Herat to the west.
As their forces fled toward Kabul one official said that the central highlands town of Bamian, surrounded by Shia Hazaras largely hostile to the Taleban, was expected to fall. In Baghlan, north of Kabul, the Taleban are believed to have fallen back south of Pul-i Khumri.
The Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, confirmed for the first time that British military personnel — believed to be the SAS — are active on the ground in Afghanistan.
“I can certainly confirm that there are members of Britain’s Armed Forces on the ground in northern Afghanistan liaising with the Northern Alliance providing advice and assistance,” he said.
Though aided by sustained US airstrikes against Taleban frontline troops, the Alliance’s rapid advance came against a background of confusion about American aims.
Last night Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, spoke of the dangers of conflagration if the Alliance entered a city with different tribal loyalties.
President Bush told the Alliance to steer clear of Kabul. Mr Bush made his comments at a news conference on Saturday with President Musharraf of Pakistan, who gave warning that if the Alliance forces took Kabul now, the world would witness “the same kind of atrocities being perpetrated against the people there” as after the Soviet Union left Afghanistan more than a decade ago.
Newsweek magazine also reported a rift between Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, and General Tommy Franks, the commander of the US military operation, over how to capitalise on the Alliance gains.
General Franks has asked for 3,000 Marines and other reinforcements in order to launch a series of airborne assaults on Taleban targets in southern Afghanistan, fearing that if the US relies on Alliance forces alone things could go to “hell in a handbasket in a hurry”.
But Mr Rumsfeld has reportedly put the request on hold, preferring that Afghans do the fighting on the ground.
Unsure of the extent of the American commitment, one fighter warned: “If the US cuts airstrikes the alliance has a duty to start the operation against the Talebs anyway.” Sahid Hussein Anwari, chairman of the Harakat Islami party and one of the most senior ranking military commanders, added: “It’s our obligation to go towards Kabul. If the US supports us, it will be a quick fight, if not it will take a long time. But either way the plan has been approved by us and it will start regardless.”
The Alliance was quick to point out that for weeks now its leaders have said publicly that their plan has been to advance only as far as Khair Khana, a key mountain position at the northern edge of Kabul, and halt their forces there while a UN-sponsored solution was found for the security of the city itself. However, others interpreted a “green light” in Mr Bush’s words, despite the Americans’ support of Mr Musharraf, and throughout Sunday afternoon heavy airstrikes on Taleban positions on the Kabul front strengthened their optimism.
Preparation for the attack was put into motion in the middle of last week, and accelerated after the capture of Mazar-i Sharif, which fell after US jets had pounded the Taleban defenders.
The best-equipped infantry units will be used to breach the Taleban’s lines, allowing two armoured columns to push along the Old and New Roads, followed by the mass of Mujahidin. Those who make it through to the New Road may find the going easier than their comrades. The units on the Old Road will face resistance in the mine-filled villages along the route, which itself lies at the foot of high ground occupied by the Taleban.
There are three lines of Taleban defences to break through. The front line, running through Bagram airbase, is backed by a second Taleban defence line just south of it. Their third and last lies at the edge of Kabul itself.
Playing a local variation of board billiards and smoking copious quantities of hash, one group of Mujahidin in Charikar seemed devoid of concern at the prospect of a dawn battle. “Why worry about the battle?” asked the men’s commander, Gul Afghan. “After 22 years of fighting among each other and foreigners it’s nothing unfamiliar to us.”
A French journalist was killed as fighting continued last night. Johanne Sutton, who worked for the French radio station, Radio France Internationale, was riding on an Alliance tank with other journalists when it was ambushed by Taleban forces in the northeast of the country. Another French journalist, from the Luxembourg-based radio station RTL, who was with Ms Sutton, was missing.
thetimes.co.uk |
