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CNN Saturday Morning News
Northern Alliance Loses Ground to Taliban
Aired October 20, 2001 - 11:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. officials tell CNN elite American troops are on the ground in northern Afghanistan working with the opposition Northern Alliance.
CNN's Chris Burns joins us now from that area with more -- Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra.
Growing signs of cooperation between the Northern Alliance and the United States, at the same time that the Taliban are fighting back fiercely on several fronts, especially around the northern town of Mazar-e Sharif. That is a stronghold, the biggest city in northern Afghanistan, and the Taliban are fighting back fiercely to keep it, despite airstrikes that have struck -- U.S. airstrikes that have struck at the airport outside of town.
The Northern Alliance says that they have lost ground in the last couple of days -- about a mile and a half. So now they're about four- and-a-half miles outside of town. There's a pincer sort of attack going on from one side, and on the -- four-and-a-half miles away from the one side. And on the other side, out in Samangan Province is where Commander Dostum is. And that is where he is being joined by, what he says are some 20 U.S. special forces military personnel who are there providing some kind of liaison.
It is in that area, in Samangan Province, where the U.S. airstrikes are striking at Taliban troop positions. Also in other places -- also in Herat Province, where the Northern Alliance is trying to fight back against the Taliban. And in the Province of Ghor, the Taliban are gaining some ground. They're at least attacking the Northern Alliance there.
We saw some of the fighting going along this front here between here and the capital, Kabul. The Northern Alliance and the Taliban exchanging artillery, mortar and machine-gun fire along that front. And along -- not far from that front is a village -- a town; a town that is trying to live with war.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Mohamed Yasim (ph) pumps tires in the shadow of Taliban guns on the mountains above. Two months ago, he scrambled for cover from a Taliban mortar attack. But he's back, working in the same spot. "This is my country, this is my soil," he says. "We have to stay here and work and hope to stay alive."
Repeatedly overrun by the Taliban, Terakhar (ph) is currently in the hands of the Northern Alliance, but just minutes from the front line, a town that's defiant but also anxious.
Shoe repairman Abdul Jihan (ph) recounts abuses during Taliban occupation and fears their return.
"We can't sleep by day or by night," he says. It's a fear people here try to live with, even if the geography around them is a constant reminder that war could break out again without warning.
Amid the ruins of what used to be a rural retreat north of Kabul, Terakhar struggles along. These women bake bread at home and sell it to try to survive.
"It's been five years that we've worked here," says Bibi Zubaida, a mother of eight. "It's because of the Taliban that we've been reduced to this."
With the gasoline station wrecked, people tank up by the bottle at Mohamed Yakub's (ph) shop. "People are scattered as refugees," he says. "There's hardly anybody left here."
The town, he says, is not what it used to be. Even the cinema is in ruins, another casualty of war.
It's Friday, Muslim prayer day. The mullah preaches confidence to his flock. "We will finally defeat this enemy and enter Kabul," he says. "Our fronts will become strong and people united." Trying to reassure a town traumatized by war, with hopes that after years of bloodshed, the end may be in sight.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNS: In fact, the gas station vendor, Mohamed Yakub isn't off base at all about refugees. The U.N. high commissioner for refugees says that there are hundreds of thousands of Afghans who are on the road right now tonight inside Afghanistan trying to flee for safety -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Chris, the human insight you bring us has definitely made some impact on everyone. Chris Burns, thank you so much -- Marty.
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