Troops fire rockets in split Afghanistan

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

The Taliban army of religious students, who took over Kabul on Sept. 27, retaliated with a blistering artillery attack and heavy tank fire on troops directed by the deposed military chief, Ahmed Shah Massood.

The fiercest fighting took place 12 miles from the capital near the village of Hussein Kot.

Northern warlord Gen. Rashid Dostum and his alliance, which includes Massood and the ousted government of Burhanuddin Rabbani, are demanding the Taliban leave Kabul before agreeing to a cease-fire.

The Taliban has refused.

"We will defend Kabul until the last drop of our blood," Taliban Information Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told reporters today. "We will fight until the last Taliban is killed."

Muttaqi said the Taliban repulsed the assault near Hussein Kot by troops loyal to the former government, but it was impossible to confirm the claim.

It was not clear what the former government's military objective is, but Massood has said he is not prepared to attack the capital. He apparently wants to push the Taliban out of the Khar Khay pass about 12 miles north of Kabul.

Control of that pass would bolster Massood's defenses and make it difficult for the Taliban to advance northward. The Taliban have already taken over two-thirds of the country, mostly in the south.

Diplomats from the United Nations and Pakistan were trying to arrange a cease-fire, but it was not likely they would be successful anytime soon.

"We had close and very intensive discussion," U.N. envoy Norbert Holl said today at the end of a three-hour meeting with Dostum.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Nasrullah Babaar also attended the meeting at Dostum's headquarters outside the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

"We discussed for several hours a cease-fire and the beginning of a political process as a second step," said Holl.

Massood is commanding a combined force of several thousand soldiers, including troops loyal to Dostum.

Dozens of tanks roared into position, multiple rocket-launchers were loaded up and soldiers with fresh ammunition were moved to the front line for today's assault.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Dostum's soldiers were participating in this offensive, but witnesses returning from the front line said Dostum had about 2,000 troops in the area.

Shouting "God is great!", one Dostum commander who would not give his name added, "We're going to Kabul to get rid of the Taliban and (Pakistan Prime Minister) Benazir Bhutto."

Massood has repeatedly accused Pakistan of arming and training the Taliban army. Pakistan denies the charges.

In the areas they control, Taliban forces have closed schools for girls, forced women to stay home, dragged men into mosques to pray and cut off the hands of some thieves.

At U.N. headquarters in New York, the Security Council warned the Taliban on Tuesday that discrimination against women and girls could jeopardize international aid and called on all factions to negotiate peace.

In a unanimous resolution, the 15-member council also urged all countries in the region to refrain from sending weapons and supporting the warring parties.