U.S. warplanes resumed heavy airstrikes today against Taliban front-line positions north of Kabul and outside the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, a day after secret talks between the Afghan opposition's defense chief and the U.S. commander in charge of operations in Afghanistan.
Waves of bombing against Taliban targets about 25 miles north of Kabul sent huge clouds of dirt and dust into the clear sky, as F/A-18 Hornet jets and at least one B-52 bomber returned repeatedly after three days of relative calm. The biggest explosions were believed to be from 1,000-pound bombs intended to pound Taliban bunkers near the front lines close to Bagram air base, six miles south of this opposition-held town.
The intense bombing reflected a conclusion in Washington that U.S. military escalation should not be deterred by the failure to assemble a broad coalition of opponents to the Taliban inside Afghanistan, a senior administration official said. Previously, U.S. officials said that air attacks on front-line Taliban troops had been restrained in order not to favor rebels of the Northern Alliance, who are rivals of other potential members of a post-Taliban government.
Near Mazar-e Sharif, where Northern Alliance forces have been waging an intermittent offensive against Taliban soldiers in recent weeks, alliance fighters cheered today's heavy bombing by U.S. planes.
"This went very well. We liked this very much," Kudratulla Umar, an officer with the Northern Alliance forces stalled about nine miles outside the key northern city, said by telephone.
Umar said a decision to try to capture the city was reached by alliance generals in a strategy meeting last weekend. "We are ready to move toward Mazar-e Sharif, but we are waiting for the Americans to say when to start," he said.
The intensified U.S. bombing of Taliban front lines follows weeks of complaints by Northern Alliance officials that they had not gotten sufficient air support to allow their forces to advance.
According to a senior official in the militia, the alliance's defense chief, Gen. Mohammed Fahim, met Tuesday with Army Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the commander of U.S. operations in Afghanistan. At the meeting in Dushanbe, the capital of neighboring Tajikistan, the generals discussed closer cooperation between U.S. and alliance forces.
"Our side was happy," the official said of the meeting's outcome. "It was a venue to discuss broader strategy. . . . It's become more and more evident that we can play a major role."
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, forecast an escalation of fighting around Mazar-e Sharif that would include tighter coordination with U.S. forces. "There could be tactical air support," he said. "This could be one aspect of it."
Since the start of the U.S. bombing campaign Oct. 7, "a better understanding has been created between us, but it still needs some improvement," the official said. 
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday confirmed previous reports from the field that U.S. troops are working with Northern Alliance forces, saying the "modest number" of troops were helping direct airstrikes and arrange logistical support. But Umar, the alliance official near Mazar, suggested the United States is much more deeply involved in directing the alliance attack than the Pentagon has acknowledged.
"We have agreed to everything with the Americans to attack cooperatively," he said through an interpreter. "A person here will coordinate it. They didn't tell us when the attack will go, so we don't know the exact time yet."
Umar said that when alliance forces get the signal to advance, they will move on foot toward Mazar-e Sharif. They are waiting for the U.S. bombardment to destroy the tanks and heavier weapons arrayed by the Taliban to protect the city, he said.
Here at the front lines near Bagram, the situation had been relatively quiet following the heaviest bombing of the campaign on Saturday, when a few bombs missed their targets and fell on an alliance-held village. Initial reports said as many as 10 civilians were killed in two villages in alliance territory and one on the Taliban side during the strikes. Alliance officials insisted that only one or two civilians had died.
The next day, the Northern Alliance foreign affairs chief, Abdullah, called for better coordination between U.S. and alliance forces to avoid such mistakes and to deny the Taliban fuel for its "propaganda" against the bombing campaign.
The pace of the bombing picked up dramatically today, with the first appearance by a B-52 over the Bagram area. It flew relatively low -- at about 25,000 feet, some observers here speculated -- and its distinctive outline was clearly visible as it streamed vapor trails from its eight engines. The bomber made two passes over Bagram and dropped a total of 50 bombs. Witnesses near Bagram reported at least two dozen heavy explosions from the bombing, including several blasts that sent mushroom clouds billowing into the air. The heaviest hits were at the Taliban village of Estarghich, beside the road to Kabul, where Taliban forces are reportedly dug in to repel an alliance advance. The bombing started in mid-morning and continued until after dark.
In far western Afghanistan, an opposition general, Ismail Khan, said his forces reversed an attack by the Taliban without the support of U.S. bombardment. In a brief telephone conversation, he said they seized a cache of weapons and supplies from the Taliban, including 31 Datsun cars and a variety of machine guns. 
"The situation is not bad here," he said. "We didn't get any bombing support today. But we are fighting around Qaleh-ye Now," about 60 miles northeast of the city of Herat. "We took a lot of supplies from the Taliban yesterday."
Khan's forces are attempting to cut the road between Herat and Mazar-e Sharif. If the Northern Alliance takes Mazar-e Sharif, it could gain control of much of northern Afghanistan and open a major supply route into Uzbekistan, where U.S. troops are camped at an Uzbek base.
In Kandahar, the spiritual headquarters of the Taliban, Western reporters were shown a Red Crescent clinic that a doctor said had been bombed before dawn today, killing at least 11 people and wounding at least six. Journalists found the clinic heavily damaged, but saw no bodies. The Red Crescent is the Islamic equivalent of the Red Cross.
A crowd gathered at the clinic during the reporters' visit and chanted such slogans as "Down with Bush" and "Down with America." 
In Islamabad, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, asserted that 1,500 people have been killed in the 25 days since U.S. airstrikes began.
U.S. and Northern Alliance officials have alleged that the Taliban is heavily exaggerating the civilian death toll from the U.S. bombings. But the officials have provided no estimates of their own. The Pentagon has acknowledged that several airstrikes have missed their targets, causing civilian casualties in Kabul and other cities.
Struck reported from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. 
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