Afghan opposition warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum said yesterday his forces lacked the weapons and supplies needed to launch a fresh offensive on the key northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif.
Dostum called for troops and civilians in the town that was once his stronghold to rise up against the ruling fundamentalist Taliban movement and said his forces were ready to support them.
"We are busy studying the situation, but at the moment we don't have enough bullets or weapons," the ethnic Uzbek warlord said by satellite phone from his base in the town of Dara-i-Suf.
"But we have contacts with local people in the town, particularly in the district of Shoulgar, and we are waiting for a mass uprising against the Taliban," he said without elaborating.
Dostum is eager to recapture his former powerbase of Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province bordering the Central Asian republic of Uzbekistan that stands on the main route to the Afhan capital, Kabul, and commands strategic supply routes to the south and to a large air field.
The commander, now a member of the disparate opposition Northern Alliance, lost the city in 1997 when he was betrayed by one of his commanders.
Dostum said US warplanes were pursuing their bombing raids on Taliban targets around the town, but said the militia had reinforced their positions with extra troops and their best commanders.
The warlord's forces are trapped in a pocket around Mazar-i-Sharif with no means of resupply.
The capture of Mazar-i-Sharif and its airport is seen as crucial to the fortunes of the opposition since this would open up fresh supply routes across the border with the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan.
An offensive by Dostum earlier this month was repulsed by Taliban troops and Dostum said his forces closest to the city had now been pushed back to 20km south of the town from positions just 5km from the airport.
He confirmed that a group of 15 to 20 US soldiers were on the ground with him, but said military coordination between them had yet to begin.
"At the moment the American soldiers are coordinating the food drops and are talking to the local people, but we haven't started military collaboration," he said.
US forces are now into the fourth week of their campaign to topple the Taliban and flush out Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, blamed for the deadly Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Although Dostum has voiced confidence that he can take Mazar-i-Sharif, his complaints echoed those of another warlord fighting to take the western city of Herat.
Mujahideen commander Ismail Khan said this week that he too was running low of ammunition and supplies and this was hampering his attempts to advance.
However, Dostum has said Ismail Khan, who ran the city of Herat until he was ousted by the Taliban in 1995, was blocking the route leading north toward Mazar-i-Sharif and advancing well.
The disparate, poorly equipped array of fighters loosely grouped in the rebel Northern Alliance have complained that they are getting little support from the US in their efforts to defeat the Taliban.
Washington has held back from giving full backing to the Northern Alliance, comprised of ethnic Tajiks and Uzbeks, and is trying to shape a future government to include the majority Pashtun group, from which the Taliban draw their support.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
CHIP EXCEPTION: An official said that an exception for Taiwanese semiconductors would have a limited effect, as most are packaged in third nations before being sold The Executive Yuan yesterday decried US President Donald Trump’s 32 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods announced hours earlier as “unfair,” saying it would lodge a representation with Washington. The Cabinet in a statement described the pledged US tariffs, expected to take effect on Wednesday next week, as “deeply unreasonable” and “highly regrettable.” Cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said that the government would “lodge a solemn representation” with the US Trade Representative and continue negotiating with Washington to “ensure the interests of our nation and industries.” Trump at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday announced a 10 percent baseline tariff on most goods
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS