N. Alliance Forces Enter Bamiyan Province

Forces of Afghanistan's opposition Northern Alliance entered, Sunday afternoon, the northwestern Bamiyan province, Northern Alliance spokesman Ashraf Nadeem told the Saudi Press Agency. On the same day, the Northern Alliance's troops overran the strategic Pul-i-Khumri town that straddles the road between Mazar-i-Sharif and the Afghan capital of Kabul. The Northern Alliance claims to have captured the provinces of Balkh, Samangan, Faryab, Zabul, Jowzjan, and Uruzgan, and to have entered Badghis province in western Afghanistan. These developments suggest the Taliban buildup around the cities of Kunduz and Taloqan in northeastern Afghanistan is cut off from the bulk of the Taliban army.