U.S. shifts bombing effort to Taliban front lines

Associated Press

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — Thundering blasts, plumes of smoke and screaming warplanes over Taliban front lines north of Kabul on Wednesday testified to an intensifying U.S. air campaign to help the opposition oust Afghanistan’s hard-line Islamic militia.

In some of the heaviest bombing of the front lines yet, U.S. jets pounded Taliban positions north of the capital. Children and adults gaped at the skies, where U.S. planes — including B-52 bombers — roared throughout the day and into the night.

The northern-based opposition alliance has repeatedly called for more intense and frequent U.S. air raids against the front lines, where it claims the Taliban have fortified their positions.

It’s not clear if the latest raids will satisfy the opposition, which is betting on breaking the Taliban front lines to advance on the capital and other key areas, including the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Both U.S. and alliance officials say they are stepping up their coordination in the fight against the Taliban, which is under U.S. attack as punishment for harboring Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida terror network, accused of carrying out the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

On Wednesday, the sound of Taliban antiaircraft fire echoed across the Shomali plain north of Kabul as American jets streaked across the sky. At one edge of the plain, in the foothills of the Safi Mountains, clouds of dust rose. Northern Alliance soldiers said Taliban forces were moving their tanks in the area.

There has been some speculation that the attacks would subside during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts in mid-November. But a fighter with the Northern Alliance’s Zarbati commando units, Ghulam Rabbani, said Ramadan should not be an obstacle, saying even the Taliban have not honored it in past fighting with the alliance.

"Ramadan should not have any relation to the American attacks," he said. "If America stops bombing during Ramadan, the Taliban will take the opportunity to remobilize and resupply themselves."

"If they want us to fight during Ramadan, we will fight," Rabbani said.