| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan |
| 40 Talib commanders defect to the Good Guys |
| 2001-10-11 |
A military official from Afghanistan's Islamic Movement confirmed the defection of forty Taliban commanders to the Unified Islamic Coalition (UIC). Head of the Islamic Movement office in Mashhad told IRNA that about a thousand of the Taliban forces under those commanders have defected the Taliban and joined the north coalition, under the command of General Dustom, with all their arms and ammunition. After primary inspections, the Islamic movement commanders have transferred these forces to the regions under their control, according to this Afghan official. In related news, an informed Afghan source at Afghanistan's embassy in Tajikistan told IRNA Wednesday night that General Dustom's forces have succeeded to free Afghanistan's Zari city, which has been frequently transferred form Taliban's hegemony into the Islamic movement's rule and vice versa. The Islamic forces have now succeeded to fully settle their rulership in the city, according to this embassy official. Mohammad Mahdi added that the Taliban have forced the inhabitants of Afghanistan's Heybatan city to evacuate their homes and leave the city and the Taliban forces are the only inhabitants of that city now. "The city is in a part of Afghanistan that has remained intact from the U.S.-British air raids and missile attacks and that is the reason for Taliban forces' settlement there," he added. Mahdi also claimed that the American planes use Uzbekistan's air bases for their take offs and landings during their air raids against Afghan targets. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |