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Russian aid helped turn Afghan tide
By RICHARD SALE, UPI Terrorism Correspondent
NEW YORK, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- The secret insertion of Russian troops and military experts into the tank and other ground forces of the Northern Alliance played a major role in its lightning victory over the Taliban this month, administration officials have told United Press International.
"The Russians are playing a major part in the ground actions," which have been undertaken in conjunction with deadly U.S. air strikes, according to an administration official.
He called the cooperation between American and Russian elements in Afghanistan "unprecedented" since World War II.
According to U.S. intelligence officials, Russian-equipped Uzbek and Tajik special forces have also entered the ranks of the Northern Alliance and proved effective in clashes with the Taliban.
Although the Northern Alliance is able to operate its Russian T-55 tanks independently, a State Dept. official said, "We have reports that the Russian military is in command of many of those (T-55) tanks."
Another administration official agreed: "We believe that Russians are operating Northern Alliance tanks, giving guidance to ground units, and providing other specialized forms of assistance."
Administration officials said that another key factor aiding the ground-fighting victories was a major influx of Russian weaponry for the Alliance, paid for by the United States.
Dimitri Simes, president of the Nixon Foundation for Peace and Freedom, told United Press International that the Bush administration was financing a huge buy of surplus Russian military equipment for the Northern Alliance that included 60 upgraded T-55 main battle tanks, 12 T-62K command tanks, and 30 armored personnel carriers.
The vehicles were brought under cover of night across the Amu Darya river from Uzbekistan by ferry at Termez. Other weapons included multiple rocket launchers and advanced communications equipment, U.S. intelligence officials said.
The funds for the weapons are being routed through Uzbekistan to "disguise their origin," a U.S. government official said.
Simes also said that the Northern Alliance was scheduled to receive Russian Mi-26 gunships, which would be operated by Russian pilots. The gunships have yet to be delivered, an administration official said.
The U.S.-Russian agreement to closely cooperate began in mid-October and included contacts between President Bush and Russian President Vladmir Putin, 'along with extensive contacts among their intermediaries," U.S. intelligence officials said. Arrangements were solidified in a telephone conversation between the two leaders on Nov. 7, these sources said.
At the end of October, the United States air campaign had been pursuing an "infrastructure-intensive" strategy against the Taliban-- destroying Taliban command and control centers and other targets with little effect: more than four weeks of bombing by U.S. planes across Afghanistan had not advanced the front lines by a single mile.
This was not surprising. The Northern Alliance confronted a battle hardened Taliban army 50,000-strong, including thousands of foreign fighters -- Islamic militants from Chechnya and many Arab countries. The alliance forces numbered barely 15,000 -- appallingly badly equipped and supplied and rated by U.S. experts as little more than a ragtag band of rebels.
But as Russian military aid secretly moved into place, the U.S. changed its strategy from attacking infrastructure to a "body intensive" strategy that would use U.S. power air to destroy concentrations of Taliban militia facing the Northern Alliance in the belief that large-scale killings of the enemy would demoralize the Taliban forces and soften them up for attack.
On Nov. 1, the key change occurred when squadrons of B-52s pounded the Taliban front lines and its positions north of Kabul with increased ferocity while U.S. bombs also rained down on Taliban defenses around Mazar-i-Sharif. By Nov. 2, senior administration officials in Washington were saying privately that an Alliance march on the capital of Kabul was imminent, and that the way was being cleared.
Gone was the restraint on air strikes for fear the Northern Alliance would jump the gun and take Kabul, complicating U.S. efforts to first create an ethnically broad-based post Taliban government.
Thanks to this help and the Russian equipment, the Northern Alliance finally broke out on two fronts in a vast pincer movement, pressing the attack first on Mazar-i-Sharif and then on Kabul, one objective being to capture airfields near both these towns that U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks believed were necessary for the next stage of the campaign.
The Russians have also been assisting U.S. special operations forces in the hunt for suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and his al Qaida network.
"The Russians gave us piles of intelligence," including histories of Taliban and al Qaida leaders, plus detailed knowledge and background of the tribal chieftains in the south, local history, folklore, "down to routes, paths and sources of water," a U.S. government official said.
He added that intelligence was shared "to a degree that risked exposure of Russian assets -- the kind of sharing you would only do with a genuine ally."
Labeling himself "an old Cold Warrior," one U.S. intelligence source said the transformation of U.S.-Russian cooperation from initial wariness to trusting cooperation "is the most mind-boggling change I've seen in my career."
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