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Rebels warn bombs not enough

A Northern Alliance fighter refuels his tank near the opposition-controlled town of Dasht-i-Qala, Afghanistan, on Monday. Frustrated over weeks of US bombings that have failed to budge Taliban front lines, opposition forces plotted what they said Monday would be a major push on a vital Taliban-held northern stronghold. PHOTO: AP

Afghan opposition commanders have warned that increased international support and tougher US action against the Taliban will be needed to overthrow the radical militia that controls Afghanistan.

Interviews with opposition figures, ranging from top politicians in the Northern Alliance to leading veterans of the 1979 to 1989 Soviet occupation, have highlighted fears that the Western powers are underestimating the Taliban.

"We need support from the international community, financial and military support, to enter Afghanistan and launch an organized movement against the Taliban," said Haji Muhammad Zaman, also known as `Commander Zaman,' a fighter since the 1980s.

Zaman has returned from Europe to set up a base in the Pakistani border city of Peshawar, where many Afghan exiles now live and are planning a post-Taliban future for their country -- if the US military campaign is successful.

The US started air strikes on Oct. 7 in a bid to force the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

The US insists its attacks are crippling the Taliban, while it faces mounting criticism over the lack of visible results and civilian casualties.

Afghan opposition leaders say the US air strikes are working, but too slowly. They insist a more aggressive effort is needed.

Zaman, an ethnic Pashtun like most of the Taliban, was pessimistic about US air strikes.

"I am not expecting a collapse of the Taliban system in the near future. The bombing will not get rid of the Taliban. It could even strengthen them."

Zaman said he was ready to fight again in Afghanistan if the opposition is united.

"As long as we do not overthrow the Taliban and these foreigners who back them, the Arabs who support them, blood will continue to flow and the country will continue to live in torment."

But he does not want the Northern Alliance, which is dominated by Afghanistan's minority ethnic Uzbeks, Tajiks and others, to return to power.

"All those who destroyed the country while in power are now in the ranks of the Northern Alliance," Zaman said, calling for a UN force to enter Afghanistan after any downfall of the Taliban.

Out in the battlefield fighting the Taliban, a Northern Alliance commander Alou Zeki believes the US strikes are necessary but they are not enough to beat the Taliban.

The 33-year-old, who is in charge of part of the front line on the Shomali plain, 50km north of Kabul, said: "According to military criteria, these strikes are 50 percent effective. They are inflicting losses on the Taliban, but they are too irregular."

Zeki wants the Americans to carpet bomb the area for three days to open up a route to Kabul.

A similar feeling goes right up through the ranks of the North Alliance.

Abdullah Abdullah, foreign minister for the loosely grouped alliance, said there must be intense attacks on the front lines north of Kabul where the Taliban have concentrated an estimated 6,000 fighters, many of them Arab volunteers loyal to bin Laden.

"Round-the-clock bombing is needed. Intense bombing, carpet bombing," Abdullah said.

"If the enemy cannot sleep, that would change everything. How could they resist in the event of an attack?"

Abdullah said the US will not win the war through air strikes alone.

"There are two messages: the United States has to be patient, and things could have been done better and can be done better," he said at Jabul Seraj, the alliance headquarters in northern Afghanistan.

"We were optimistic when we were fighting the terrorist groups alone, before the September 11 attacks. We knew that it was very hard, we know that it will be time-consuming. But we knew we were going to win."
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