Military

DATE=11/02/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-282595

TITLE= AFGHAN ATTACKS (L) CQ

BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE

DATELINE= ISLAMABAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

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INTRO: U-S B-52 bombers carried out another round of heavy strikes against Taleban front-line positions north of Kabul today (Friday). V-O-A's Jim Teeple reports from Islamabad, the strikes took place as Taleban authorities searched for a key ally of Afghanistan's exiled king, who entered Taleban territory more than a week ago to meet with tribal leaders.

TEXT: Northern Alliance troops who witnessed the intense bombardment say B-52 bombers struck Taleban front line positions and rear areas. A key target was the Tutakhan hills north of Kabul which overlook the strategic Bagram air base. Northern Alliance forces hold the base but cannot use it because of Taleban positions that overlook it.

Northern Alliance fighters told western reporters after the latest raids that the strikes were the heaviest since the United States began using the massive B-52s to hit Taleban front line positions.

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Some Alliance fighters say there were too many bombs dropped in the latest raid to count. Huge explosions kicked up clouds of dust and smoke. Unconfirmed reports say a number of Taleban tanks were destroyed in the attacks, which are meant to soften up entrenched positions and clear the way for a long awaited Northern Alliance attack.

U-S Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday that small numbers of American special forces were on the ground helping identify targets and officials have indicated that more U-S troops are on the way.

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(Meanwhile) Taleban forces on Friday were searching for Hamid Karzai, a key aide to Afghanistan's ex-King Zahir Shah, and former deputy foreign minister of Afghanistan. The Pashtun tribal leader slipped into Afghanistan about ten days ago to meet with other Pashtun tribal leaders who might be willing to oppose the Taleban.

Taleban authorities say they attacked Hamid Karzai's camp on Thursday, capturing about 25 of his followers, but he and several others managed to escape. Talat Masood is a retired Pakistani General who closely follows Afghan exile politics in Pakistan. He says the fact that Hamid Karzai has so far managed to elude Taleban capture shows there is the potential for opposition to develop to the Taleban in traditional Pashtun tribal areas.

/// MASOOD ACT ///

This shows there are people in Afghanistan who are protecting him, which

goes to show there is dissent, and there are groups which are likely to

come forward, provided they see that there is any alternate government

which is shaping up.

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/// OPT // / Taleban authorities said on Friday that several of Hamid

Karzais colleagues who were captured on Thursday would be taken to

Kandahar and hanged, but so far there has been no independent confirmation

of the Taleban carrying out their threat. /// END OPT ///

Last month the Taleban captured and executed Abdul Haq, a former Pashtun

Mujahiden leader who had returned from exile in Dubai to try and raise a

rebellion against the Taleban in Pashtun tribal areas. Talat Masood,

says Hamid Karzai has closer ties to people in the region than did the

legendary former Mujahiden commander.

/// MASOOD ACT ///

Hamid Karzai is more important because he has been keeping in touch with

the people and going in and out of Afghanistan, from Quetta to Kandahar

and other places. He has contacts and I think he is more genuine as well in the sense he has more roots and he has been very active as an opposition leader. He was also one of the deputy ministers in the Rabbani government.

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Hamid Karzai recently played a key role in organizing a large gathering

of Afghan tribal leaders, and former Mujahiden commanders in the

Pakistani city of Peshawar. The meeting was aimed at building support

for a broad-based post-Taleban government in Afghanistan under the

banner of former King Zahir Shah. (Signed)

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