Resistance forces loyal to former Herat provincial governor Esmai’l Khan launched their attacks late Monday night and had captured the Taleban's positions by the early hours of the morning, the opposition spokesman added.

He said Farsi district, some 100 kilometers (62 miles) southeast of Herat city, was under Khan's control, along with some villages in nearby Tulak district to the northeast.

But the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported that battles were continuing in Farsi and the Taleban were rushing reinforcements from Herat.

Quoting Khan's son from the eastern Iranian city of Mash-had, AIP said the opposition had 400 fighters in the mountains around the district, which lies near a main east-west road.

"We have captured the district headquarters but fighting is still going on in villages around the district'', AIP quoted the opposition spokesman as saying.

Taleban officials were not immediately available for comment. At least 10 civilians were killed or injured in Taleban jet raids over the central province of Ghor, adjacent to Herat, last week following reports that Khan was trying to muster men to launch an offensive against the Taleban.

Their strategy would be to spread the militia's forces in the west, center, north and the northeast to prevent a concentrated strategic thrust like the one which routed the opposition in Baghlan province last year, he said.

Omar Samad of the Washington –based Afghan Azadi Radio (AAR) reported Tuesday that Esma’il Khan, former governor of Afghanistan's western province of Herat and a famed commander from the anti-Soviet occupation era, has set up several anti-Taleban resistance strongholds in remote "liberated regions" in his former fiefdom in Afghanistan, in anticipation of increased fighting in the weeks to come.

The opening of the new battlefronts coincides with sporadic fighting in parts of Takhar, Bamyan, Kunar, Laghman, Baghlan, Samangan, Parwan and Sar-e Pul provinces.

Esma’il Khan also vowed to fight for the liberation of Afghans from the rule of "ignorance and tyranny," a reference to the fanatical Taliban regime. He admitted, however, that aside from dispersed hit-and-run attacks, "no major confrontation" had yet taken place with the adversary in that area. Given the difficulties facing the resistance fighters, he expressed optimism that with popular support, the Taliban will fail to rule the country.

He reported that resistance had picked up steam in parts of Morghab in Badghis, Charsada, Taiwara and Shahrak districts in Ghor and Herat provinces. But he acknowledged that the drought, acute poverty, the road blockades, shortages of logistics and problems of transportation between disjointed regions are adding to the burden, and even forced some inhabitants to leave their ancestral homes.

The Commander, whose followers put up stiff resistance to the Soviet occupation army and the communist-installed regime from 1978 till 1992 in the western provinces, was governor of Herat till 1995. He oversaw three years of relatively successful peace and reconstruction efforts in his region while large parts of the country experienced chaotic in fighting instigated by outside powers, especially Pakistan.

In 1995, his forces were dislodged from Herat by advancing Taleban fighters, and Khan was forced to seek temporary refuge in Iran. In 1997, while organizing an anti-Taleban front in Badghis province, he was captured during a plot hatched by old adversaries and handed over to the Taleban under suspect circumstances. He spent almost three years under harsh conditions in a Taleban jail in Kandahar until his daring escape last year along with several other jailed commanders, and an hazardous journey to freedom.

"Humanitarian help should be completely disassociated from the political situation", said Claude Moncorge, president of the Paris-based organisation.

"The burqa symbolizes the oppression of the Taleban regime especially towards women," he said. Signs placed at the foot of the statues read: "Afghanistan: Let's lift the veil on a humanitarian disaster".

Monuments in 15 other French cities, including Strasbourg, Lyon and Marseille, were also covered with burqas.

He said nearly one million people had been displaced in Afghanistan -- half of them since the start of the year -- due to the worst drought in memory and the civil war between the ruling Taleban militia and opposition forces.