#13
Boston Globe
October 27, 2001
ON THE DEFENSIVE
Outnumbered Taliban foes holding ground
By David Filipov, Globe Staff
MOUNT ZAMBURBULAQ, Afghanistan - Sept. 11 has a special meaning for the Afghan opposition soldiers manning the dilapidated Soviet tank on this peak in the foothills of the snowcapped Hindu Kush.
On the same day that terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes in the United States and turned them into massive bombs, the ruling Taliban regime launched a major attack at the gates of the town of Farkhar, a key crossroads in the northern Afghanistan Takhar province.
Outgunned and outnumbered, forces of the opposition Northern Alliance were able to drive the Taliban back by rushing reinforcements to this mountain, about 3 miles from Farkhar.
Twice since then, the larger Taliban force has mounted attacks. So far, the Northern Alliance troops have succeeded in hanging on. Not winning. Not attacking. And not capturing territory from the Taliban.
''We're not attacking, we are defending,'' said Mohammadjon, the tank's commander, as he surveyed Taliban positions in the mountains across the Farkhar River.
Since US warplanes began conducting bombing raids against Taliban positions on Oct. 7, the conventional view in Washington and among opposition commanders has been that Northern Alliance troops, energized by the airstrikes, would start taking cities from the ruling Islamic militia.
But the battle for Farkhar provides a drastically different view of the situation on the ground in Afghanistan. Far from being on the verge of victory against the Taliban, the US-backed alliance units here - a force whose numbers can fluctuate between 200 and 2,000 - are barely holding out against a larger, more powerful foe.
In fact, the Taliban militia itself has been claiming key victories recently, including pushes around the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif and the execution of Abdul Haq, a key opposition leader who was trying to create an anti-Taliban alliance.
On Sept. 11, the day Americans will always remember for the attacks on New York and Washington that killed more than 5,000 people, the Taliban drove southeast from their forward positions outside their stronghold in the city of Taloqan, along the Farkhar River.
The Taliban made it to the village of Dashti Rula, 5 miles north of Farkhar, until rebel commanders were able to bring a few heavy machine guns up to Mount Zamburbulaq to help Mohammadjon's tank repel the attack. Two more attacks several days later ended when the Taliban failed to take a strategic road that was guarded by one rocket launcher and two more tanks.
Now, the Taliban troops are trying to place their heavy artillery on the heights they control on Mount Oluchakhan and Mount Shokhundara, the two other peaks that help form this valley. Behind those mountains lie Taloqan, which the Taliban captured in 1998. Alliance commanders would love to recapture the town, but they have a more pressing problem.
If the Taliban were ever able to bring their heavy artillery, tanks, and rocket launchers up there, the men in Mohammadjon's tank would be sitting ducks.
That would be a disaster for the opposition, since the tank dug into the summit of Mount Zamburbulaq is one of only two opposition tanks guarding the road into Farkhar.
The only thing stopping the Taliban from putting their guns on the heights is a single 122mm field gun the alliance has perched on a dry wash on the outskirts of Farkhar.
''Whenever we hear that the Taliban plans to shell our tank, we open fire at their base,'' said Abdulbasir, 19, the commander of this artillery piece. On Thursday, the gun fired most of the afternoon and into the evening.
The significance of Farkhar for the Northern Alliance cannot be overestimated. If the Taliban troops were able to break through the thin alliance defenses and take the town, there would be nothing to stop them from advancing into the opposition's stronghold in Badakhshan province.
''If the Taliban reaches Farkhar, they can reach anywhere,'' said Mohammadjon from his battered Soviet-built T-54 tank that was littered with shell casings. Over by the dugout where the men sleep, prayer mats were spread out among tank shells and more casings.
He kept watch on the large Taliban force, which opposition commanders estimate at somewhere between 5,000 and 25,000 troops in this region.
The mix-and-match uniforms of his own force reflect the unfinished business of the late Ahmad Shah Masood, the opposition military leader who tried to turn the Northern Alliance's diverse collection of warlords and mujahideen ''holy warrior'' guerrillas into a unified army.
Some of the men, like Abdulrashid, 22, have uniforms and modern equipment like Japanese-made walkie-talkies. Others, like Mohammadjon, 35, have their Kalashnikov rifles and traditional Tajik hat and clothes, the same outfit they used when they drove out the Soviets in 1989 after Moscow's 10-year occupation of Afghanistan.
Masood, a hero of that victory, recognized that the guerrilla tactics that left the carcasses of dozens of Soviet tanks strewn along the road to Farkhar and harassed the Russians into retreat were not effective against the Taliban. Unlike the hated Russians, the Taliban were not a foreign force, and had considerable support among ordinary Afghans when they overtook most of the country in 1996.
But Masood was killed by suicide bombers just days before the Sept. 11 attacks. Although his death has not caused the alliance to collapse, as his assassins no doubt had hoped, opposition forces have had more difficulty coordinating their attacks. Not surprisingly, the rebels have had trouble taking territory - an offensive by opposition General Abdulrashid Dostum against the Taliban-controlled northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif has stalled, as has a rebel push against the western city of Herat.
Although the Bush administration has urged the Northern Alliance to attack, US warplanes have also attacked without coordinating with the rebels. Only one US plane has bombed Taloqan, according to alliance commander Shanjan, and those strikes missed the Taliban.
''It was as if the Americans never attacked,'' he said.
In the town of Farkhar, graves with long poles and flags mark the deaths of dozens of mujahideen. As the fighters have died, boys have taken their place. Shungakul, who says he is 16 but looks more like 12, wants to join the mujahideen to be like his father, who died fighting the Taliban in Takhar province. Shungakul's Kalashnikov machine gun is almost as long as he is tall, but he has nine full rounds of ammunition and says he is ready to fight.
Although their situation looks grim, the opposition troops on Mount Zamburbulaq are trying to remain confident.
''Right now there are only a few of us, but if we need them we will have more men,'' said Abdulrashid, whom the other men tease because his name is the same as Dostum's.
''We have killed 400 or 450 Taliban. This is the important job of the mujahideen. We are waiting for the Defense Ministry's command to attack.''
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