Afghan Opposition Claims Gains in Fighting

26/04/2001| IslamWeb

WASHINGTON (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Anti-Taliban forces on horseback attacked tanks in northern Afghanistan as U.S. airstrikes hit caves and vehicles and fighting raged near the key crossroads city of Mazar-i-Sharif, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. (Read photo caption below)The month-old U.S.-led bombing campaign was focused on that patch of rugged terrain, where mounted cavalry charges by the Northern Alliance were reported, according to Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the U.S. military Joint Chiefs of Staff.
``This is opposition forces riding horseback into combat against tanks and armored personnel carriers,'' Pace said at a Pentagon briefing. ``So these folks are aggressive. They're taking the war to their enemy and ours.''
Asked about military activity near Mazar-i-Sharif, an essential point on the supply line to the capital Kabul, Pace said, ``It is fluid. They are fighting.''
Pace did not elaborate on the use of horses in the campaign, but a U.S. defense official said in such rocky areas as northern Afghanistan, with winter setting in and roads tenuous at best, traveling and fighting on horseback had advantages.
``The Northern Alliance can be characterized as a very light infantry force,'' the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. ``It's one of their strengths that they're accustomed to fighting with low food supplies, low ammunition, with horses aiding their mobility.''
``If you had a force relying on trucks, you'd need gas and spare parts and that requires a more complicated logistics trail,'' the official said.
The official stressed that some tribes in the alliance have trucks and tanks, but most operate on horseback: ``Given the terrain, horses are an excellent way for moving around.''


PHOTO CAPTION:
A Northern Alliance soldier shoots a machine gun on the front line near the town of Alti Hoja in the north of Afghanistan, October 7, 2001. Afghan opposition forces fighting the ruling Taliban said on Oct. 7 they had seized 11 villages in the central province of Ghor and were advancing on the provincial capital Cheghcharan. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)