Print

Mail

wiki links

Anti-Taliban forces make progress, as do peace talks

Talks on a future Afghan government edged forward yesterday and US troops and tribal armies began to close in on suspected hideouts of the Taliban leader and his "guest" Osama bin Laden.

"They are making headway," Ahmed Fawzi, spokesman for UN special representative Lakhdar Brahimi -- who is hosting the talks in Bonn -- said after consultations among the four factions on an interim government.

While the talks began, US forces continued their buildup near the Taliban's last big stronghold, Kandahar and tribal fighters said they were closing in on the stronghold.

"We are moving toward Kandahar and we expect to be in there in a few days," said a spokesman for Gul Agha, a former mujahidin governor of the southern city.

Sources say Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar remained ensconced in Kandahar, his powerbase and the last city in Taliban hands, and was issuing orders to his men to fight on.

"He is definitely there, he wants to fight to the last drop of his blood," the source said.

The Northern Alliance, which has gained control over much of Afghanistan since the US began bombarding the Taliban and bin Laden's al-Qaeda network Oct. 7, said earlier the two men could be near Kandahar but might also be elsewhere.

Alliance spokesman Mohammad Habeel said Mullah Omar and bin Laden, wanted for the Sept. 11 attacks on the US which killed nearly 4,000 people, may be in the Safi Koh mountains near Jalalabad in the east or in the jagged ranges near Kandahar.

Taliban fighters were lobbing rockets at Gul Agha's men who had advanced to within 5km to the south of Kandahar's airport, said Pashtoon, adding that calls from their leader to fight on were the biggest problem.

"Don't vacate any areas," Mullah Omar told his men by radio.

"This is not a question of tribes," he said in an address broadcast on Wednesday. "This is a question of Islam."

The Taliban are excluded from the hastily organized talks in Bonn among disparate Afghan factions.

Asked about reported progress between the Alliance and the group backing former Afghan king Zahir Shah on an interim parliament, Fawzi said: "Their positions are quite close."

"I think, God willing, we will reach a conclusion soon," said Hamid Sidiq, a spokesman for the ex-king who, like most of the Taliban, belongs to the dominant Pashtun tribe and is thus seen as able to win Pashtun support for a post-Taliban government.

The three groups of Afghan exiles at the talks are deeply suspicious of the Northern Alliance, which fought a bloody civil war to cling to power the last time it ruled Kabul between 1992 and 1996.

But comments by Alliance Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah yesterday helped to build trust by indicating it had softened its objections to a multinational peacekeeping force.

"We think they realize they need more security too," said a member of a smaller delegation. "The disasters of the past few days in Mazar-i-Sharif may have convinced them that Afghanistan is not as peaceful as they say."

Taliban fighters who surrendered to Alliance forces in Kunduz staged a surprising and bloody uprising in their fortress prison outside the northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif that was put down only after three days of heavy fighting this week.

The US CIA said Johnny "Mike" Spann, 32, who worked for the agency's clandestine Directorate of Operations, died in the firefight.

Undeterred, US forces in the south geared up to track bin Laden and his cohorts in mountainous terrain riddled with tunnels and caves. Giant C-17 cargo aircraft flew into their base near Kandahar for the first time, bringing in heavy equipment.

The Pentagon said its aim was to go after top leaders.

"If we break the leadership of the Taliban and break the leadership of al-Qaeda, there is reduced motivation for troops to stay loyal to the cause and continue to fight," Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem told reporters.
This story has been viewed 1847 times.