Word: dostum
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...Taliban spent three years fighting for Mazar-i-Sharif, precisely because its capture would confirm them as masters of all Afghanistan. And that they are no longer. Sources reached by TIME inside the city on Friday confirmed claims by Northern Alliance generals Rashid Dostum and Ustad Atta Mohammed to have recaptured Mazar-i-Sharif. Taliban forces reportedly withdrew from the city after a bloody 90-minute battle at its southern entrance which began late in the afternoon, local time, triggering jubilant celebrations among the townspeople whose ethnic and political affinities are with the Northern Alliance...
...Alex Perry: We've learned from sources with two key Northern Alliance commanders, generals Rashid Dostum and Mohammed Atta, that contrary to expectations, Northern Alliance forces have moved unopposed through the Shol Ghar pass south of Mazar-i-Sharif. They now claim to be four miles south of the city, and are promising to capture it tomorrow (Thursday). The reason for their rapid advance, they say, is that the Taliban forces defending the city have abandoned Mazar, heading west to Herat and east to Kunduz...
...main battle began on Monday night, and lasted 24 hours, some 60 miles south of the city. Atta's and Dostum's forces launched a two-pronged attack which saw extremely fierce fighting. Dostum deployed his "cavalry," about 1,000 men riding ponies. And the Taliban hit them with everything they had, including artillery and heavy machine guns. Reports from the front said the loss of life had been heavy...
...Still, it seems clear that the war planners in Washington cannot afford to ignore the Alliance; the assassination of anti-Taliban Pashtun leader Abdul Haq last week makes the Alliance warlords the only rebel commanders of any stature. Even if Dostum and Atta can't seize Mazar-i-Sharif, the U.S. will need their experience when it sends its own ground troops into Afghanistan. Last Friday, U.S. Navy Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem told reporters that the U.S. "will utilize all of our forces and all of the types of warfare that we have to bring to bear." He characterized...
...Time for Plan B. The first major ground battle, near Mazar-i-Sharif, took place last Monday, when hundreds of Northern Alliance troops serving under two commanders, Uzbek warlord Rashid Dostum and Tajik general Mullah Ustad Mohammed Atta, swept toward the city and the 20,000 entrenched Taliban troops protecting it. The Alliance forces advanced to within 12 miles of Mazar, but a fierce Taliban counterattack led to savage street battles; Alliance forces managed to hold their front line but failed to advance much further. It's unlikely that the Alliance will march on Mazar anytime soon. The Taliban...