To shouts of "God is Great" and the boom of an American bombing raid, the political leader of the Afghan opposition yesterday reviewed soldiers of the northern alliance who are fighting the ruling Taliban.
Flags flew and old Soviet tanks fired practice rounds into arid hillsides north of the capital Kabul in a display of strength, as former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani and other top opposition leaders reviewed several hundred northern alliance soldiers north of the capital Kabul.
"You are bravely defending your country against the evil triangle of Pakistan, the Taliban and Osama bin Laden," Bismillah Khan, a northern alliance commander, told the assembled opposition fighters.
PHOTO: AP
High above the Shomali plain, US airmen dropped at least three powerful bombs on Taliban positions not far from the assembled northern alliance fighters, who were shouting "God is great. God is great." Huge plumes of gray, white and black smoke rose in the clear skies from the bombs.
The US is supporting the northern alliance in its efforts to depose the Taliban, the Islamic militia that took power in Afghanistan in 1996. The Taliban is harboring Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terror bombings in the US.
Some people at the military rally held up pictures of Ahmed Shah Massood, the military leader of the northern alliance, who was killed by two assassins posing as journalists just before the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Some northern alliance officials believe bin Laden was behind Massood's death.
"I honor the devotion of Massood and the braveness of you and your holy warriors," Rabbani told the gathering.
Rabbani, who is still recognized by the UN as Afghanistan's legitimate leader, urged the fighters onward in their battle against the Taliban.
"Yesterday, together with our brother Massood we were proclaiming that terrorism was threatening the world. We were proclaiming the truth but we were forgotten by the world, so now you are proving that you are right," Rabbani, who now is based in the northern Afghan city of Faizabad, told the troops.
"Your jihad is right. You see now that the world is focusing its attention on you. You and only you can fight this great danger until it is finished and you can save the world from terrorism," Rabbani said.
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