IRAN-BACKED AFGHAN FORCES OF VAHDAT CAPTURE BAMIAN

ISLAMABAD 15 Feb. (IPS)    Iranian-backed afghan opposition forces seized Wednesday the strategic city of Bamian from the ruling Taleban who, in their first major defeat in more than a year, conceded having lost the town.

Haj Mohammad Mohaqqeq, a local commander for the Shi'a-based Hezb Vahdat (Unity Party) told the BBC's Persian and Central Asia services that Bamian was captured late Tuesday night following a heavy artillery battle with Taleban.

Bamian is a stronghold of Afghanistan's minority Shi'a Muslim community and falls on the main highway linking the capital, Kabul, to Mazar Sharif in the north.

Military and political analysts in the region said the capture of Bamian, after almost two years, is Afghan opposition's biggest and most important victory over the Taleban.

They said the lost of control over the Kabul-Mazar Sharif highway by the Taleban may force them to retreat from other areas in the north.

Mr. Mohaqqeq said Taleban have lost their strength of the past and at the same time, people under their rule, particularly in the Sh'ia dominated Hezarejat regions are in insurrection against them.

He said considering the importance of the town, Taleban may counter-attack, "but we can resist", he assured.

Forces of the Vahdat attacked the town on two fronts at the same time and were helped by local residents. "Taleban soldiers were taken by surprise", Mr. Mohaqqeq explained.

The Taleban has admitted losing control of Bamian. Dozens of Taleban soldiers are said to have died in the assault and its forces have now pulled outside the city limits.

"There are losses on our part. We have left behind a number of vehicles and arms as well," a senior Taleban official told the French news agency Agence France Presse.

The loss of Bamian is the biggest setback the Taleban has faced in months, analysts said, adding that the fall of Bamian could herald an equilibrium between the forces in presence.

They explained that the capture of Bamian is important for the forces opposed to Taleban as it allows them to control the main logistic Kabul-Mazar Sharif road; menace Taleban positions in neighbouring Samangan and Takhar provinces and reorganise their forces.

"Coming at a time that Taleban was gearing to secure the control of all the war-torn land of Afghanistan, the lost of Bamian is a big moral blow to them", noted Mr. Zaher Tanin, the BBC'c senior analyst on Afghan problems.

Military experts said if Taleban are to re-capture Bamian, they would have to bring new forces from neighbouring regions to the risk of exposing themselves to new attacks from the opposition.

Bamian was captured in 1998 but has been under constant pressure from opposition forces led by the Afghan veteran war commander Ahmed Shah Mas'ud.

Taleban lost the strategic position as sanctions decided by the United Nations against them started last month over the refusal of the ruling Afghan authorities to hand over the Saudi anti-western crusader, Osama bin Laden.

"A military balance in Afghanistan can help the warring sides in Afghanistan to accept a peaceful solution, something that until now, the ruling Taleban were refusing, thanks to their military superiority over the forces of Northern Alliance", Mr. Tanin observed.

Meanwhile, Taleban ordered the United Nations to close its office in Kabul, an Afghan official sources said Wednesday, explaining that the move was in reciprocity against an American decision to shut Taleban's offices in New York.

But Washington said that decision was in compliance with UN sanctions on the Taleban.

The sanctions were imposed to force the Taleban to hand over the Saudi dissident, Osama bin Laden, who is wanted in connection with the bombing of two US embassies in Africa in l998.

In a letter to the UN Special Mission in Kabul, the Taleban said it expected the office to close as soon as possible.

The UN representative to Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, had tried to avert the closure of the UN office in Kabul. Our correspondent says the US decision to break off contacts with the Taleban has its critics at the UN.

UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Kenzo Oshima, is in Afghanistan to monitor the humanitarian crisis there, brought on by a severe drought and relentless war. ENDS BAMIAN RECAPTURED 15201