Word: mazar
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Twice in the past four years, Northern Alliance commander Rashid Dostum has had to flee Mazar-i-Sharif, the city he once ruled. Once he had to bribe his own men to let him out of town before the Taliban arrived. But last Friday Dostum re-entered the city in triumph. It was Mazar's latest--but perhaps not its last--reversal of fortune...
...have died there since 1997. But until then it was untouched by Afghanistan's two decades of war. The city takes its name from the Blue Mosque there, where Ali--Muhammad's son-in-law and the fourth Caliph--is said to be buried. Alexander the Great slept in Mazar. Genghis Khan and Silk Road traders passed through. Only 35 miles from Uzbekistan's border, the city was a valuable supply depot for the Soviets, who left it in Dostum's hands...
...south of this ridge. The Alliance has some 5,000 troops along the 20-mile Taloqan front; estimates of Taliban strength range from 5,000 to 10,000, so the rebels are relying on U.S. bombing for advantage. The ultimate aim is to link up with troops who took Mazar-i-Sharif on Friday night and to advance on the Taliban stronghold of Kunduz, thus reclaiming the entire northern part of the country...
...special forces had come in the night before to coordinate the bombing. The Alliance brought in 21 tanks at midnight to add firepower, and they have been unloading on Taliban lines since midmorning. The morale of the Northern Alliance troops is high after the sudden fall of Mazar-i-Sharif the night before, and they jokingly predict that with U.S. help they will take Taloqan by Sunday...
When the front line around Mazar-i-Sharif burst under relentless U.S. bombing, the retreating Taliban fighters knew there was only one option: to run fast and far. Retreating into Mazar-i-Sharif's maze of dusty alleys was certain death; the Taliban had made too many enemies. During its three-year rule of Mazar-i-Sharif, the Taliban, who belong to the Pashtun tribes of southern Afghanistan, had mercilessly persecuted the Uzbek and Hazara ethnic minorities. After the city fell, they hauled up guns hidden under the floorboards and took revenge as the Taliban forces fled in disarray. "From...