KABUL, Nov 8: Afghan opposition forces were poised on Thursday for a major attack on Mazar-i-Sharif in their first big push of the US-led war against the Taliban.

Backed by US warplanes and special forces, and mixing tanks with horseback warriors, the Northern Alliance said it was closing in on the provincial capital after a series of breakthroughs on Tuesday and Wednesday.

After claiming to have moved as near as seven kilometres on Wednesday, the alliance dug in at the village of Chishma-i-Shifa, 22kms south of Mazar-i-Sharif, a spokesman said.

The spokesman, Qari Qudratullah, said no new fighting took place on Wednesday night. Three top commanders of the Northern Alliance met to decide strategy for the coming attack.

But a Taliban official said US B-52s launched their heaviest raids to date on the militia’s positions around the city.

“They bombed our front lines last night (Wednesday) and this morning Thursday). They were the heaviest airstrikes since the bombing began on Oct 7,” said Abdul Henan Hemat of the Taliban’s Bakhter news agency.

With the Taliban well-entrenched in Mazar-i-Sharif for the past three years, a bloody battle loomed for the city, whose airport makes it an important staging and supply centre.

Qudratullah, a spokesman for alliance commander Atta Mohammed, said the ruling militia had ample forces in Mazar-i-Sharif, a city of more than 200,000 people.

But he added: “They have no air force any more. They cannot bring in reinforcements in large numbers and their morale is not as high as it used to be.”

Taliban officials acknowledge suffering setbacks south of Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, but say the opposition claims of territorial movement are exaggerated. The Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) quoted a Taliban spokesman as saying that the militia had repulsed three opposition attacks 100 kilometres southwest of the city early on Thursday.

“Opposition forces are far away from Mazar-i-Sharif and they are making false claims,” the spokesman said.

Mazar-i-Sharif is one of three main frontline areas in the north targeted by the Americans and their Afghan allies in the war launched a month ago.

US warplanes have also been focusing on the northeastern region, where both sides are battling for control of supply routes into Tajikistan, and north of Kabul in preparation for a threatened opposition offensive.

Qudratullah said opposition forces used captured tanks, Kalashnikovs and machineguns, as well as rocket-propelled grenades, in the drive northward. He claimed they had captured 250 Taliban soldiers on Wednesday, with another 500 surrendering.

But he acknowledged that taking Mazar-i-Sharif itself would be a different matter. “It is very important for the Taliban and very important for us,” he said.

US Marine Corps General Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Washington the fighting around Mazar-i-Sharif remains fluid but “we know the opposition has been making gains”.

He said US special forces troops on the ground reported cavalry charges by the Northern Alliance. “This is opposition forces riding horseback into combat against tanks and armoured personnel carriers.”

US special forces were primarily orchestrating airstrikes in support of the opposition but, if asked, would give tactical advice, Pace said.—AFP