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| Afghanistan |
| Northern Alliance strikes north of Kabul |
| 2001-10-08 |
Afghanistan, October 8: Jubilant anti-Taliban opposition forces unleashed an onslaught on Monday on Taliban positions north of Kabul, seizing the advantage after US-led strikes and predicting the Afghan capital could fall to them in a matter of days. From this hilltop village overlooking the plains stretching to Kabul, the sound of rockets being fired by opposition Northern Alliance—or United Front—forces at about 10-minute intervals could be heard, while flashes of artillery fire lit up the sky above the front lines just to the south. An opposition spokesman, Mohammad Ashraf Nadeem, said the Northern Alliance's Commander, General Abdul Qassim Fahim, had put his troops on standby for an infantry assault on Taliban-held cities. "We are waiting for orders for general Fahim. The United Front is trying to cut off the Taliban from all sides," he said via satellite phone from the frontlines near Samangan in northern Afghanistan, where the opposition is attempting to close in on the key Taliban-held town of Mazar-i-Sharif. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |