<

Emboldened Afghan Opposition Targets Strategic City
Thursday, November 8, 2001
(8:17 AM ET)
By Rosalind Russell & Randall Mikkelsen
Reuters

The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported on Thursday the Taliban had arrested 15 Afghans, including a former army colonel, on suspicion of spying for the United States.

JABAL-US-SARAJ, Afghanistan/WASHINGTON -- Reuters
Afghan opposition forces, emboldened by intensive U.S. air strikes, said they would launch an offensive on Thursday to capture a strategic northern city from the ruling Taliban.

With the conflict in Afghanistan in its 33rd day and President Bush saying the Taliban were crumbling, commanders in the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance said they would move on Mazar-i-Sharif on two fronts.

Elsewhere, Washington froze the assets of two financial networks it said helped fund Osama bin Laden, the man it accuses of masterminding the September 11 attacks on the United States and the target of the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan.

"We will launch the two-pronged attack from the southeast and southwest," Ashraf Nadeem, spokesman for the Northern Alliance, told Reuters.

The opposition said it hoped it would be able to take the city without bloodshed, and was urging the Taliban to withdraw.
(More: Company News Source)
2001 © Reuters.

Dan