Word: northerners
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...bombing thus far has not dislodged the Taliban even where they're at their most vulnerable - in the former Northern Alliance stronghold of Mazari al-Sharif - let alone from Kabul. The Northern Alliance have not proved to be quite as fearsome a force as the Pentagon may have hoped, while the Taliban have proved far more so, as Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem admitted last week. And the bombing thus far has failed to provoke the mass defections from the Taliban in the south for which U.S. planners had clearly hoped. Indeed, most reports from inside Afghanistan suggest the bombing...
...order to achieve this, Washington wants the Taliban to be replaced by a broad-based government comprising all of Afghanistan's querulous tribes (including moderate breakaway Taliban elements) and the country's possessive neighbors. And that goal has partly governed the conduct of the war, for example discouraging the Northern Alliance from seizing Kabul for fear this would simply antagonize most Pashtuns. A broad post-Taliban consensus, however, remains as elusive today as it was four weeks...
...thunder of carpet bombing by B-52s rumbled for a second successive day in Afghanistan, Thursday, heralding an approaching moment of truth for the opposition Northern Alliance. The heavy bombers, not used since the first days of bombing, have joined an American air armada pounding frontlines north of Kabul and all around Mazar-i-Sharif, as part of a U.S. effort to soften Taliban defenses for a ground offensive by the Alliance on both fronts. The bombing may continue for days yet, but when it ends, it will be up to the anti-Taliban armies of the north...
...concern to score a morale-boosting victory before the onset of winter bedevils prospects for progress on the ground. The Pentagon has faced mounting domestic political criticism over a four-week bombing campaign that has thus far produced no tangible shift in the balance of power in Afghanistan. The Northern Alliance, too, has criticized the U.S. for failing to subject the Taliban frontlines to sustained aerial bombardment, with frontline commanders questioning whether the Americans were serious about helping tilt the balance in favor of the Alliance. The sustained bombing of the past two days has changed all that; the question...
...Northern Alliance certainly says it's in no shape to attack during the winter, but that could easily change given a few warm days and a U.S. offensive done in the right way. The Northern Alliance's traditional position is to stand down during the winter, but this will not be a traditional winter. The U.S. will be supplying them, disrupting Taliban supply lines and bombing Taliban positions. So all bets are off; this winter will be a throw of the dice. Militarily it may be as bad as ever for the Northern Alliance, but it may also...