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U.S. seeks to establish base in Afghanistan
Tuesday, October 30, 2001
By Bryan Bender / The Boston Globe

The Taliban “are as strong as ever,” said Allah Mohammed, a Northern Alliance commander at Bagram, about 30 miles north of Kabul.

WASHINGTON
The United States has taken a variety of steps in recent days to pave the way for hundreds of American and allied ground troops to establish a temporary base inside Afghanistan, military officials say.

Meanwhile US airstrikes shifted over the weekend to northeastern Afghanistan, near the Tajikistan border, in an attempt to open up a supply route to a US base. The bombing also enhanced the chances that the opposition Northern Alliance could take the city of Mazar-e-Sharif and its strategic airstrip.

[A cache of documents, computer disks, and other material seized during a nighttime raid in southern Afghanistan 10 days ago has revealed little information, The New York Times reported today.

[The raid on the house of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar was conducted by US Special Forces. A top aide to a senior Pentagon officer who was briefed on the raid told the Times that the officer “wasn’t that impressed” with what had been learned so far from the seized material.]
(More: The Boston Globe News Source)
2001 © Boston Globe Electronic Publishing, Inc.

Dan