IT IS LIKE NO ROUZ IN MAZAR, THERE IS MUSIC AND WOMEN IN THE STREETS
JABAL SARAJ (Afghanistan) 10 Nov. (IPS) As the Taleban acknowledged early
Saturday the lost the strategic city of Mazar Sharif forces of the Northern
Alliance, Uzbek General Abdol Rashid Dostom who led the final assault announced
that Faryab, Jozyan, Sar Pol and Samangan provinces have also been
"freed" in the past hours.
"It is like No Rouz (the new year for the Iranians, Afghans, Kurds and Central Asian nations starting on 21 of March). Men are flocking in barber shops to cut their beards, women are out in the streets, music is played everywhere, people are greeting each others, distributing sweets to people, mostly to the soldiers who liberated the city", a resident of the half a million people city reported.
Speaking to the Persian service of the BBC, General Dostom said the situation in Mazar Sharif was "normal" and the last pocket defended by some Chechen, Arab and Pakistani who had come to reinforce Taleban forces had surrendered, living 12 Pakistani dead.
He said a military committee made of civilians and military men have been formed to supervise the situation, restoring electricity and other urgently needed services but also preventing any massacre of people suspected of being Taleban "collaborators".
Taleban's Bakhtar News Agency said fighters of the Islamic militia had been forced to retreat with their weapons and equipment because of sustained bombing by U.S. warplanes.
The capture of Mazar Sharif on Friday was the biggest success for both the Northern Alliance and the United States since President Bush launched air strikes on 7 October to punish the Taleban for refusing to hand over Mr. Osama Ben Laden, the prime suspect in the 11 September terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C.
"The city of fully pacified from all Taleban and Arab terrorists and that last pocket of resistance had been discovered and the enemies arrested", the 47 years-old General Dostom added, adding that he had urged technicians to start radio and television services "as soon as possible".
"Women can recover their freedom, go to work, to schools and university. I shall also reopen recreation centres that he been shut by the Taleban", Dostom, the former Governor of Mazar Sharif assured.
Northern Alliance troops on the frontline north of Kabul greeted news of gains in Mazar Sharif with jubilant gunfire and quiet joy last night. The news was broadcast over the network of military radios and walkie-talkies which bind the troops in the trenches to the higher command.
"Our forces have entered the city from three sides, and already a cleansing of the city of the Taleban is being carried out," said the radio report, quickly passed from receiver to receiver and from mouth to mouth in the darkness of this sprawling front of mud outposts, bunkers and rooftop lookouts.
With the capture of Mazar Sharif and Hairatan, on the borders with neighbouring Uzbekistan, the road is now clear for the Americans to send more weapons, clothing and food to other Alliance commanders, particularly General Esma’il Khan, who is fighting in Heart province, near the Iranian border.
Control of Hairatan would also allow the US and its allies engaged in Afghanistan to send in ground forces now stationed in Termez, on the Uzbel side of the border.
"Mazar Sharif is completely controlled by the Northern Alliance. The situation in the city is calm and with the Taleban having fled towards Meymaneh and Badris, no more fighting had been reported", Mr. Merabeddin Mastan, Afghanistan ambassador to France and the Alliance’s Representative to the European Union told Iran Press Service.
"Now we have to free the north of Afghanistan from the remaining terrorists before advancing further to the south, liberating Kondouz, Takhar and Baghlan on the road towards the capital Kabol", Mr. Mastan added, describing causalities among the Taleban during the capture of the city as "quite high".
Asked if the anti-Taleban forces would march towards Kabol, Mr. Mastan said "this is not in our plans for the time being", regretting that political problems and considerations "do not advance at the military path".
He did not explained what were these "considerations", but other Afghan sources blamed the political imbroglio to stiff opposition by Pakistan to the capture of Kabol by the Northern Alliance forces.
Mr. Mastan acknowledged that the heavy bombing of the Taleban lines by American warplanes had a considerable effect in demoralising the Taleban, but added there were no American or any other foreign forces during the battle of Mazar Sharif.
The lack of clear military benefits, with a couple of well-publicised mishaps during Special Forces raids, has led to increasing uneasiness at home as well.
"Now, at last, the coalition may show a result. Until now, the Taleban has been able to give a convincing impression of unity and unbroken morale, but the loss of Mazar cannot be presented as anything but a disaster. Once the first crack appears in the regime's facade, things could change very fast", commented an Iranian expert of Afghan and Central Asian problems.
"Capturing Mazar, with its modern air base and extensive military facilities, will transform the situation in northern Afghanistan. It is possible all Taleban forces north of the Hindu Kush range, which divides the country in two, will be rolled up within days, and vast quantities of aid can be rushed in to prevent millions starving to death during the winter, at least in the northern half of Afghanistan", he further noted. ENDS MAZAR SHARIF CAPTURED 101101