WASHINGTON and ISLAMABAD -- Joint US-Northern Alliance attacks ran into determined resistance from Taleban fighters on the front line north of Kabul yesterday. After three days of US strikes directly aimed at Taleban soldiers, only one thing is clear to the outside world: they can still give a bloody demonstration that their firepower is very much to be reckoned with.
There were what have now become routine complains from the Northern Alliance that the US strikes were too weak to tip the balance of power their way.
"This is nowhere near enough," one field commander said. "In the last week, the Americans dropped around 12 bombs on the Taleban. They need to do at least this every day. What they are doing is not effective."
Taleban soldiers also repulsed a US-assisted opposition offensive in heavy fighting around the key northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, after US jets struck in support of Afghan opposition troops who were accompanied by teams of special US forces. They, too, failed to make any ground.
Muhammad Atta, an opposition commander, claimed that at first his men, along with US experts, attacked Keshendeh, 70 kilometers south of Mazar-e-Sharif, and killed 10 to 20 Taleban fighters.
"At first we made advances, but later the Taleban launched a counterattack and they were able to regain the lost ground," he admitted.
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