October 24: Afghan forces battle for pass Jebul Siraj, Afghanistan: Former government soldiers unleashed a blistering hail of rockets on Taliban positions north of Kabul, but witnesses said Taliban fighters beat back the offensive. The alliance of troops loyal to depose military chief Ahmad Shah Masood and northern warlord Gen. Rashid Dostum are the only forces capable of halting a complete Taliban takeover. The Taliban army of religious students, which swept into Kabul on September 27 and now controls two thirds of Afghanistan, responded to Wednesday’s assault with mortars, heavy artillery and tank fire. Masood’s troops were trying to take control of the Khair Khay pass, twelve mile north of Kabul.

Control of the pass would have put Masood’s men in the hills overlooking Kabul’s airport and made it difficult for Taliban to advance northward. Dostum. Masood and the ousted government of President Rabbani are demanding that the Taliban leave Kabul before agreeing to a ceasefire, but Taliban leaders have refused. Diplomats from the united nation and Pakistan were trying to arrange a ceasefire, but it was not likely they would be successful anytime soon. Masood commands a combined force of several thousand soldiers, including troops loyal to Dostum. It wasn’t clear whether Dostum’s well-armed soldiers are participating in this offensive, but witnesses said Dostum had about 2,000 soldiers at the frontline.

October 25: Bombs devastate

Afghan village

Kabul, Afghanistan: Taliban jets pounded a village north of Kabul with cluster bombs Thursday, killing at least 20 people. Many of the dead were children. The dead were being buried immediately in keeping with strict Islamic traditions. The wounded were loaded onto trucks and donkeys. Taliban fighters have instituted their version of strict Islamic rule in areas under their control. They have closed schools for girls, forced women to stay home, and banned movies and music. The Taliban assault was believed to be in retaliation for Wednesday’s attempt by Masood’s troops to push toward Kabul. Masood’s soldiers battled Taliban with tanks and heavy artillery to gain control of strategic pass east of Kalaquan. Reporters on the battlefield said that Masood’s defenses were shattered by an artillery barrage from the Taliban forces. Gaining control of the pass would give Masood’s men run of the hills overlooking Kabul’s airport, where Taliban jets are kept.

October 28: Bombs disrupt Afghan prayers Kabul, Afghanistan:

 The thud of the bombs and staccato bursts of antiaircraft fire over the capital Sunday disrupted the wailful sound of morning prayers. Fighter jets belonging to Dostum made bombing raids over Kabul. His soldiers also battled The Taliban on a second front in Western Afghanistan. The Taliban forces retaliated with a bomb attack on Jebul Siraj, Masood’s military headquarters. One bomb smashed into a house wounding several people. In Kabul, one bomb hit a park and another bomb hit the airport. The airport serving civilians and the military remained open. The Taliban army claims that it is extending its rule in western region previously controlled by Dostum. But Dostum’s spokesman denied that claim by the Taliban. The two strategic provinces of Badghis and Faryab remain in Dostum’s control said Gen. Yusuf, who like some Afghans uses only one name.

 October 29: Jets hit Afghan capital Kabul, Afghanistan:

Allied forces seeking to prevent the country’s takeover by an army of religious students massed Monday 10 miles north of Kabul, while their fighter jets bombed Taliban positions on the edge of the capital soldiers loyal to warlord Rashid Dostum fought alongside former government troops led by the ousted military chief, Ahmed Shah Masood. The anti-Taliban forces were several thousand strong. Soldiers from a smaller Islamic sect known as Ismaili Muslims also arrived at the front line to link up with Dostum and Masood. Pilots loyal to Dostum conducted bombing runs outside the capital. The attacks followed night bombing raids on the Kabul airport, on the northwestern edge of the city.

It was the third straight day Dostum’s jets bombed Kabul airport, there have been no reports of injuries. The military Ali against the Taliban formed soon after the capital fell, combining the forces of Dostum, Masood, the Ismaili led by Jaffar Nauderi and a small Shiite sect fed by Karim Khalili.Dostom’s forces moved multiple rocket launchers into place north of a key pass that the deposed government has been trying to capture for nearly a week. Taliban soldiers fiercely guarding the Khair Khay pass area, whose hills overlook Kabul, repulsing repeated attempts to claim it. In Kabul, two bombs landed near the airport shortly after midnight. A third — a cluster bomb — hit a runway, Airport workers swept up the shrapnel so the airport could reopen.

Article extracted from this publication >>  October 30, 1996