Alliance open Kabul attack

The battle for Kabul began today as Northern Alliance forces backed by US warplanes attacked the Taliban's lines outside the city.

After sweeping across great swathes of territory in the north of Afghanistan, forces were preparing for what could be the most decisive battle so far.

Rockets, artillery and mortars pounded Taliban defences with troops backed by tanks massing for a ground assault.

"This morning at 8am [3.30am GMT] our defence ministry took a decision to attack towards the city," Commander Toryalai said in the village of Rabat, 15 miles from Kabul.

"There was a problem in preparations but now we hope the ground offensive will start this afternoon."

As he spoke US F18 warplanes and B52 bombers attacked the Taliban lines in a repeat of the tactic that enabled the Northern Alliance to capture the northern city of Mazari-Sharif on Friday. During the night, Northern Alliance special forces began clearing landmines they had laid to protect their positions near the airstrip at Bagram, which is about 15 miles north of Kabul.

Since Mazar fell the opposition forces have been on an apparently unstoppable march to Kabul. The key Western city of Herat was reported to have fallen early today.

Herat's fall opens the way to southern Kandahar, the powerbase of Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar - chief protector of Osama bin Laden.

One news agency reported that Kunduz, the last city held by the Taliban in the north of the country, had fallen, opening the road for supplies of Russian arms stockpiled in Tajikistan. However, the Taliban said it still controlled the city, according to the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press.

As town after town has fallen, the Northern Alliance now claim to be in control of 40 per cent of the country, a fourfold gain in 72 hours.

The capture of Mazar- i- Sharif appeared to galvanise troops who had spent years bogged down in trench warfare and it was clear allied air strikes and American and British assistance on the ground had tipped the balance against the Taliban.

In some positions in the north, journalists reported seeing Western soldiers near the front lines moving with Northern Alliance fighters, apparently helping to co-ordinate the attacks across Afghanistan. It was not known if they were Americans.

"Our forces have benefited-from the expertise and logistic help extended by American military experts during the advance on Mazar-i-Sharif," a senior Alliance commander, Atta Mohammed, said. "The aerial bombing of Taliban frontlines was a tremendous help to us." The bombing continued today as Alliance troops claimed victory in the key provinces of Takhar and Baghlan. Fierce fighting was reported in Bamian, to the west of Kabul.

Alliance foreign minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah had earlier refused to rule out an attempt to take Kabul, although the United States and Britain have called for the Alliance to remain outside the capital where its forces took thousands of lives during the civil war in the early Nineties.

The Taliban has defended at heavy cost the front line outside Kabul. If this line breaks the Alliance would have a virtually clear route into the capital.

Fierce exchanges of artillery fire today erupted along the front line that zigzags through the lush Shomali Plain 15 miles north of Kabul. Surrounded by tanks and at least 1,000 men, senior opposition commander General Baba Jan directed the artillery fire from the Bagram airbase as Taliban shells landed only 20 yards away.

Dr Abdullah, saying that opposition forces had seized five northern provinces in three days, estimated Taliban losses at 15,000, a figure that could not be confirmed. He expressed surprise at the pace of the Taliban collapse, something that was being interpreted differently in Pakistan.

According to senior military figures monitoring the situation from here, the Taliban appear to be making a series of strategic withdrawals to their southern strongholds. Even Herat is reported to have been given up with only token resistance.

As the country appeared to divide along an east-west line, there was little evidence of important heavy weapons or armour being abandoned in the retreat, suggesting Taliban commanders plan to make a stand somewhere.

Whether they could hold off opposition forces backed by air strikes in cities such as Kandahar and Jalalabad, where their support is strongest, remains to be seen. Mullah Omar has warned for weeks that he will wage a guerrilla war from mountain hideouts if his militia is forced out of the towns and cities.

As the Taliban units were forced out of the North, American and Alliance troops were preparing to open a supply route into Uzbekistan. The Americans have been landing arms, ammunition and huge amounts of humanitarian aid across the Afghan border and this is expected to flow into Alliance- held Afghanistan soon.

The speed of the advances and the possibility that the Taliban will abandon Kabul increased the urgency of a need to find a political arrangement to fill the power vacuum. The Alliance, dominated by ethnic Uzbeks, Tajiks and Hazaras from the north of the country is unacceptable to the majority Pashtuns who, for the most part, have backed their Taliban kinsmen.

Pakistan has warned of a new civil war if the Alliance attempts to impose rule on the south and President Pervez Musharraf has warned of anarchy and bloodshed if all ethnic groups and factions are not represented.

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