The Northern Alliance has said that it had made more significant military gains and had taken several key towns in northern Afghanistan. It said that its troops had eliminated the main Taliban forces in the region.
Meanwhile, a female French journalist was killed in Afghanistan today when the Northern Alliance troops she was with fell into a Taliban ambush, it has been reported.
The Afghan opposition’s Foreign Minister, Abdullah Abdullah, claimed the main fighting force of the Taliban had been lost in the last 48 hours. Speaking at a news conference, he said that his forces were advancing toward the strategic province of Kunduz, which commands routes to the central Asian republic of Tajikistan.
He said that the Taliban had had 15,000 of its fighters in the north of Afghanistan. He said that they were now trapped and encircled in Kunduz province.
His claims have not been independently confirmed. Since their capture of the key city of Mazar-i-Sharif last Friday, the Northern Alliance says that its troops are advancing towards the capital, Kabul, and the city of Herat, having captured the strategic town of Qala-i-Nau.
The Northern Alliance said that it could launch an attack on the capital anytime. However, President George W Bush said that he believed the United States could achieve its military aims in Afghanistan without the Northern Alliance gaining control of Kabul.
This morning, the Taliban said that it had pulled out of three Afghan provinces as part of what it referred to as a strategic retreat to the north. Ten big explosions rocked Kabul as United States warplanes resumed pre-dawn attacks on Taliban targets around the city.
