A priority of Afghanistan's anti-Taliban Northern Alliance is to capture the key northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif -- but it is a tough nut to crack.
The capital of Afghanistan's ethnic Uzbek community, the city was captured by the Taliban in August 1998, but it has never fallen by military assault alone, and opposition attackers are well aware of past bloodshed there.
"The priority is Mazar-i-Sharif," the Northern Alliance's interior minister Younus Qanooni said Saturday, confirming the opposition aim to recover their former bastion before moving on the capital Kabul.
"But the Taliban's defenses are strong, and their best fighters are there. It will be difficult to capture, and we have to do it slowly."
After a week of fighting around Mazar-i-Sharif, anti-Taliban commanders were Saturday pushed back to around 10km to 15km east of the city.
Since initial gains and then the setback, the mood in the nerve centre of anti-Taliban operations at Jabal Seraj appeared to be one of patience. There are also signals that words of support alone from Washington are not enough to get the opposition moving on the battlefield.
The opposition, analysts say, are reluctant to attack alone, having learned from the Taliban's experience.
The Taliban first grabbed Mazar-i-Sharif in May 1997, after they paid off Abdul Malik, a rival to the local strongman and current Northern Alliance figure Abdul Rashid Dostam.
Rolling into the city in triumph, the Taliban discovered the deal was worthless. Their 2,000 troops were mowed down by opponents hiding in Mazar-i-Sharif's maze of narrow mud streets.
A further 2,000 captured Taliban fighters were executed in the months that followed, their bodies tossed down desert wells.
This relationship between the Taliban and the opponents, analysts say, effectively rules out the possibility of Islamic militia members being bought off -- a tradition in Afghanistan's civil war.
Now the Taliban are reported to have reinforced the city with their toughest fighters -- including Arab volunteers who can expect no mercy at the hands of the Northern Alliance.
This, analysts say, leaves the Taliban in Mazar-i-Sharif with little choice but to fight to the last.
Northern Alliance fighters can also expect not to be shown any mercy.
A Taliban official said Sunday that the Taliban had publicly executed two opposition commanders and three other soldiers in Mazar-i-Sharif on Saturday.
Abdul Hanan Hemat, chief of the Taliban's Bakhter Information Agency, said the five were hanged in different squares in Mazar-i-Sharif.
He said the five "had resisted fiercely and were arrested in the battle field." Two of the men were local opposition commanders who had been distributing arms to civilians around the city, Hemat said.
Taliban fighters in Mazar-i-Sharif are reported to be well dug in and well stocked with ammunition dumps nestled in densely populated residential areas, effectively ruling out the use of air attacks to knock out their supplies.
If the opposition are considering a ground assault, they can also look back to the Taliban's second assault on Mazar-i-Sharif in September 1997.
Despite superior numbers and firepower, the Taliban's all out conventional assault from both sides of the city failed, largely due to a geography that suited the besieged city.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
BULLY TACTICS: Beijing has continued its incursions into Taiwan’s airspace even as Xi Jinping talked about Taiwan being part of the Chinese family and nation China should stop its coercion of Taiwan and respect mainstream public opinion in Taiwan about sovereignty if its expression of goodwill is genuine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) made the comment in response to media queries about a meeting between former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) the previous day. Ma voiced support for the so-called “1992 consensus,” while Xi said that although the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have “different systems,” this does not change the fact that they are “part of the same country,” and that “external
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source