Military

DATE=11/08/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-282845

TITLE= AFGHAN / ATTACKS (L)

BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE

DATELINE= ISLAMABAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: U-S warplanes carried out heavy strikes Thursday against Taleban

positions near the Tajikistan border. V-O-As Jim Teeple reports from

Islamabad more strikes are reported against Taleban front-line positions

north of Kabul.

TEXT: Thursdays strikes against Taleban positions in northeast

Afghanistan mark the eighth time in twelve days that U-S bombers have

pounded Taleban front-lines near Mazar-e-Sharif. Pentagon officials say

about 80-percent of their air strikes against targets in Afghanistan are

now concentrated on helping the Northern Alliance break through the

Taleban lines around the city.

There are conflicting reports about the extent of gains being made by

the Northern Alliance. Alliance commanders say they have captured

several key cross-roads south of Mazar-e-Sharif, but Taleban authorities

say they have pushed the Alliance troops back. Pentagon officials

describe the situation around the city as fluid.

Whoever controls Mazar-e-Sharif controls land routes to Uzbekistan and

Tajikistan as well as the main road south to Kabul. Heavy snowfall is

already reported in some parts of northern Afghanistan, which some

military analysts say could slow down the Northern Alliance offensive.

The Afghan winter is also a cause for concern for aid officials. The

U-N's World Food Program says it might have to begin food air-drops in

northern Afghanistan if heavy snows block land routes. Khaled Mansour

a W-F-P spokesman in Islamabad says many lives are at risk.

/// MANSOUR ACT ///

North Afghanistan, as it has been a few times before, is the hunger belt of Afghanistan. The World Food Program is seeking to help about three-million people stay alive until

the harvest mid-summer next year.

// END ACT //

The W-F-P says it used two cargo aircraft to carry two-thousand tons of

food aid to Turkmenistan where it will be transported overland to

northern Afghanistan. (Signed)

NEB/JLT/RH