Afghan opposition seeks stronger U.S. assistance

BAGRAM, Afghanistan -- With the front lines in Afghanistan largely unchanged despite U.S. airstrikes, opposition commanders insisted Monday they plan a major offensive, but said it could not succeed without stepped up American attacks to break down Taliban defenses. \nThere were signs the United States was willing to increase attacks on Taliban forces. Strikes on the northern front entered their second week Monday with thunderous explosions and blinding streaks of light in the skies over this battle zone north of the capital. \nThe opposition northern alliance has barely advanced here or at the key northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif to the northwest. Opposition commanders have welcomed stepped-up bombing over the past week, but say more is needed. \nIn Washington, Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clark said Monday the U.S. military extended its bombing toward the Afghan border with Tajikistan, where Taliban troops are preventing opposition forces from reaching Mazar-e-Sharif. \nAnd Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld rejected criticism the United States wasn't doing enough to help the alliance, saying Washington was eager for an opposition advance. \n"We are anxious to have all the forces on the ground move forward and take whatever they can take away from the Taliban and the al-Qaida," he said at the Pentagon. "Our hope is that they will work their way into the major cities and the major airports." \nRumsfeld said airdrops of ammunition to opposition fighters have begun and coordination of targets has become more effective. "We\'re dropping thousands of pieces of ordnance to assist them in addressing the Taliban forces that are arrayed against them," he told CNN. \nAmerican airstrikes on Afghanistan have killed some leaders of the Taliban military and the al-Qaida network, but not the top ones, Rumsfeld said. \nAt Bagram, a front line 30 miles north of Kabul, the Taliban "are as strong as ever," said Allah Mohammed, a commander who leads a group of rebel fighters posted 300 yards from Taliban forces. Opposition commanders say the Taliban have put their fiercest fighters on the front lines to secure the capital, Kabul. \nU.S. fighter jets roared high over Bagram on Monday, dropping bombs behind the Taliban\'s lines. Explosions rang out from all sides as the Taliban responded with anti-aircraft fire and pounded alliance positions with rockets, mortars and artillery. U.S. jets also carried out airstrikes Monday night around the southern city of Kandahar, headquarters of the Taliban militia, and there were reports of "huge explosions" near the airport. \nOpposition spokesman Ashraf Nadeem said top commanders had met to plan a major offensive for this week to take Mazar-e-Sharif from the Taliban. \n"For the new operation, when it happens, we will need American help," Nadeem said. \nHe did not say whether launching the assault was conditional on U.S. help, but opposition commanders have said it is doubtful they could take the city without more intensive airstrikes. \nThe Taliban repelled an opposition advance on Mazar-e-Sharif last week. The northern alliance hopes taking the city and other northern regions, including Taloqan and Bamiyan, will open up supply routes from the north and reverse the Taliban's fortunes, producing mass defections and clearing the way to Kabul. \nThe Taliban are thought to have around 40,000 fighters, including around 10,000 from the ranks of Osama bin Laden\'s al-Qaida terror network. Opposition forces are thought to number around 15,000 to 20,000.