JABAL SARAJ, Afghanistan (Islamweb & News Agencies) - The opposition proclaimed victory Friday over the Taliban in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, the most significant prize in northern Afghanistan. American officials confirmed opposition forces were in the city and said fighters of the ruling Taliban were fleeing.The capture of Mazar-e-Sharif would be the biggest success since President Bush launched airstrikes Oct. 7 to punish the Taliban for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden.
If the opposition can hold the city - which in the late 1990s changed hands several times and was the site of bloody massacres - it would open a land bridge to neighboring Uzbekistan, allow a flood of weapons and supplies to the opposition alliance and give U.S.-led forces their first major staging ground in Afghanistan for the campaign against the Taliban.
In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell said he couldn't confirm the fall of the city. But other U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it was clear that the opposition had entered Mazar-e-Sharif and that at least some Taliban troops were on the run.
A senior defense official in Washington said reports from the area indicated that the anti-Taliban forces have taken the entire city and that large numbers of Taliban fighters have switched sides. But he stressed that the U.S. military had not been able to confirm those reports.
He added that the city could change hands again if, for example, Taliban forces found reinforcements for a counterattack.
The commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt said scores planes from the aircraft carrier took off late Friday to attack Taliban troops retreating from Mazar-e-Sharif.
``We thought this would be a very slow advance on the city, (but) it appears the Taliban have fallen back and over the course of the day, we've seen numerous convoys coming out of that area,'' Rear Adm. Mark Fitzgerald said.
Alliance envoy Haron Amin said in Washington that alliance generals had ``confirmed the liberation of Mazar-e-Sharif.''
He said forces under three commanders occupied strategic high points near the city and the Taliban fled to the east and west of the city, many in pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles.
``They are going to be in our territory,'' he said. ``We will be able to cut them off.''
A spokesman for one of those commanders, Gen. Rashid Dostum, claimed American Green Berets took part in the battle. But a senior defense official in Washington said he couldn't confirm the claim. (Read photo caption below)
Philip Smith, Dostum's Washington representative, said the U.S. special forces along with CIA operatives and Turkish troops were also working with Dostum, an Uzbek commander who once controlled Mazar-e-Sharif.
Smith, who said he was in touch with Dostum via satellite phone, said the battle involved nearly simultaneous assaults on two fronts, which crumbled the Taliban lines.
Dostum claimed 1,500 Taliban soldiers were captured and many of them volunteered to fight for the alliance, Smith said.
Earlier opposition reports said about 3,000 Taliban fighters had been in the city, and claimed 500 of them died and 500 were captured.
The Taliban said opposition troops had entered Mazar-e-Sharif and that their own forces were regrouping outside the city, the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press reported.
In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said there had been ``substantial progress'' at Mazar-e-Sharif and there was no doubt ``that the military momentum is now moving against the Taliban.''
Vice President Dick Cheney said the city's loss would be a serious blow to the Taliban because they had worked so hard to protect it since the bombing began.
``It's a significant development,'' Cheney said in a telephone interview with The Sun newspaper of London. ``It would be perceived, I think, as a significant defeat.''
Mazar-e-Sharif has a population of about 200,000 - most are ethnic Uzbeks and Tajiks, the same as the opposition. Most Taliban are Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan.

PHOTO CAPTION:
FILE--Undated file photos of, from left, Rashid Dostum, Burhanuddin Rabbani and Abdul Malik, who are among America's new allies inside Afghanistan, the heads of the United Front or northern alliance of rebels whom U.S. military officials are aiding with bombing runs, even as they maintain a ginergly distance. (AP Photo/Files)