An entire 4,000-strong Taliban division, complete with its commander, defected to the rebel Northern Alliance as its forces swept through three provinces Saturday.
News of the success was given in an interview with the general responsible, Rashid Dostum. Speaking by satellite phone from deep inside Afghanistan, the general said that Taliban units were now laying down their arms, and that a three-pronged offensive was closing on the strategic city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
"Three provinces have joined with us, 4,000 armed forces joined us, and their commander, Mullah Abdulla," he said. "Last night we captured a convoy -- 140 men, and 36 heavy weapons and anti-aircraft guns."
He said the second prong of the advance, led by General Ustad Atah, was now close to the outskirts of Mazar-e-Sharif, but had halted to avoid air strikes pounding the city. "We can take Mazar-e- Sharif, but not yet, not yet," said General Dostum. "There is bombardment from the US forces. We must stop outside."
Three eastern provinces -- Jowzjan, Faryab and Sarepol -- have gone over to the alliance, following the defection of two other eastern provinces, Ghowar and Herat, earlier in the week.
Meanwhile, the third arm of the offensive has seen General Ismail Khan, commander of a force of Shia Muslims, surround a Taliban force trapped in the center of Herat city. "The Taliban are inside, the alliance forces are around them," said the general. Alliance commanders say there is now a real possibility that the entire northern half of Afghanistan will switch away from the Taliban, as defections trigger a domino effect.
These are the Taliban's worst defeats in the new round of fighting that broke out after the bombing of the World Trade Center and last month's assassination of the alliance's Defense Minister, Ahmed Shah Massoud.
General Khan said Northern Alliance officials were making overtures to secure the defection of all Taliban forces in the north of the country, promising them an amnesty and even offering that they could join the alliance. "Our enemy is not the ordinary Afghan soldier," he said. "Our enemy is the Taliban and their foreign allies, Pakistan and the Arab soldiers."
A senior British official voiced concern yesterday [Saturday] at the alliance's belief that it is the Taliban's natural successor. "They had a brief period of government between 1992 and 1996 and it was absolutely disastrous," the official said. The document increases the likelihood of a future UN operation to, in Tony Blair's phrase, "win the peace."
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