...according to Pakistan News Service:

[size=4]US commandos take control of Mazar-e-Sharif[/size=4]
[b]Northern Alliance masses troops, tanks near Kabul; B-52s bomb Taliban front line near Tajik border[/b]  Updated on 2001-11-11 06:03:27

CHAMAN Nov 11 (PNS): American Commandos have assumed control in Mazar Sharif following Taliban withdrawal from the town, report said.

Other report say that there is firece fighting was going on in Shabarghan while NA and American troops have also captured Hertan, a key town in Samangan province.

According to details, Northern Alliance troops and American Commandos have reached Shabarghan and a fierce battle was continuing there. NA troops and US commandos have captured certain areas including District Charak.

Reports from Mazar-e-Sharif revealed that a severe panic has gripped the city and streets and roads are deserted. [b]American Commandos have taken the control of the city and there is no troops of Northern Aliance is seen in the city[/b].

On the other hand, General Abdul Rasheed Dostum has announced that ground is set for American troops and [b]now every action will be a joint action[/b]. Another report revealed that NA troops and American commandos have captured Hertan area of Samangan province bordering Uzbekistan. Taliban sources said that dozens of people have been killed or wounded in this battle.

Meanwhile, Afghan opposition forces claimed fresh gains Saturday after securing the key city of Mazar-i-Sharif and stepped up preparations for a long-awaited offensive against Taliban defences around Kabul.

But even as opposition tanks and troop reinforcements were being positioned north of the Afghan capital, the United States warned the Northern Alliance against entering Kabul itself. The capture of Mazar-e-Sharif, which splits Taliban bastions in the northeast and west, provided a major boost to the month-old US military campaign in Afghanistan which was shadowed Saturday by the claim of [b]alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden[/b] that he possessed nuclear and chemical weapons.

The alliance followed its biggest victory since the start of US air strikes on October 7 by taking an important river port just north of Mazar-i-Sharif. The Taliban admitted the losses.

The opposition also claimed to have taken all of the neighbouring province of Samangan and was putting pressure on the Taliban in other areas.

“We are advancing and we are able to capture more areas,” Mohammad Ashraf Nadeem, a spokesman for Northern Alliance commander Atta Mohammad told AFP from northern Afghanistan.

“Now there is peace” in Mazar-i-Sharif, Nadeem said as local radio spoke of alliance troops patrolling the streets.

Nadeem said Samangan and the provincial capital, Aibak, were taken when the Taliban “withdrew without major fighting.” North of Mazar-i-Sharif, the opposition took Hairatan, a river port near the border with Uzbekistan.

- continued -

The Taliban, past masters of the surprise counter-attack when they appear down, admitted they had been forced to withdraw from Mazar-i-Sharif and Hairatan.

“We withdrew to the outside of Mazar-i-Sharif last night in order to avoid civilian casualties and casualties to our forces,” said Abdul Henan Hemat, head of the Taliban’s Bakhter information agency.

“We managed to get our artillery out of Mazar to a safe place in time,” he said. “We decided to evacuate the city before the opposition launched their heavy offensive.”

A US-based spokesman for ethnic Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostam said 1,500 Taliban fighters had surrendered to Dostam’s forces and 200 Taliban troops were killed.

The alliance victory in Mazar-e-Sharif, which came on the back of ferocious US air strikes, capped a four-day push from the south by forces fighting from tanks, on foot and by horseback.

With Kabul the next apparent target, victory at Mazar-e-Sharif creates a strategic bridgehead for the United States to funnel supplies and US troops from nearby Uzbekistan.

A US B-52 bomber carpet-bombed Taliban positions at Bagram air base 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Kabul early Saturday.

“We are getting ready for a battle to move towards Kabul,” opposition commander Amanaulah Gozar said in his base at Jabal Seraj, north of the front lines where thousands of Taliban forces guard access routes to the Afghan capital.

Meanwhile, a US B-52 warplane Saturday dropped at least one bomb on a Taliban-controlled area in northeast Afghanistan, near the front line here close to the Tajik border, an AFP reporter said. The Dasht-i-Qala front is one of three in Afghanistan where the Taliban militia is battling the opposition Northern Alliance. The others are north of the capital Kabul and around the strategic northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which the opposition seized on Friday. Further south, a B-52 bomber carpet-bombed Taliban positions near the disused Bagram air base 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Kabul early Saturday.

See story at: [url]http://www.paknews.com/specialNews.php?id=122&date1=2001-11-11[/url]

Eric The('Let'sRoll')Hun[>]:)]

Well I hope the Pakies are right this time, though their batting average has been poor.

Send the 101st Now.  And 24 Air Assault Brigade.
And 1 Fallschirmjager Brigade. Start sweeping the country while the snow shows up their campfires and body heat against the cold real bright on Apache and Kiowa IIR's.

With the airfield and road open we should be able to fly them in and keep their voracious appitite for jet fuel satisfied.

Even without the road we might have been able to supply them soley by air with a all weather runway and enough tarmac space to unload. We have access to the entire world fleet of AN-124 Condors as well as our C-5 and C-17 fleets- and there are a lot of unused 747's and DC-10's in storage out here at Goodyear because not enough people are flying that could also be employed, take the seats out and use pallitized cargo and forklifts. When it comes to pallitized goods- as opposed to self propelled or wheel equipped cargos- a 747 does not take much longer to unload than a C-5.

By looking at a map it appears that the Taliban are cut off in large parts of north and northeast Afganistan.  Time to bring on the Warhogs.

GunLvr

Dozens of people have been killed or wonded.. sounds like a small fire fight to me.
A (single) b-52 CARPET bombed... sounds like a small strike to me....
Sounds a lot like this war is more press than a war. When a couple k men face off in a pitched battle and ony 12 get hurt it is a press sham....pat

Translated:

We are getting our asses kicked!

Now, what do you get when you reverse the Commander of The Northern Alliance's Name ?

There does appear to be a lack of names available in that part of the World. I know that Iranians seldom use the given name Mohammad, but almost all other Islamic peoples do.

To my knowledge, the only Christians in the world who use 'Jesus' as a given name are Mexicans. The name 'Salvator' ('Savior') or variations thereof, are as close as most others get.

Eric The(Christian)Hun[>]:)]

Some reports say lead elements of the Northern Alliance have penetrated Kabul, the Taliban is currently withdrawing. I imagine it is a lot like Paris in 1944 currently. Will the Taliban burn it?