Afghan opposition forces claimed Sunday they had tightened their grip on the strategic town of Taloqan in the northeast with the capture of a key gorge from the ruling Taliban militia.
Forces loyal to ex-defense minister Ahmad Shah Masood seized control of the Tangi Farkhar gorge, about 10 kilometers (six miles) to the east of Taloqan, in a heavy dawn battle, opposition spokesman Mohammad Habeel said.
"First we captured the overlooking high grounds and then Tangi Farkhar itself" on Saturday, he said, adding that the gorge was an important gateway to Taloqan, the provincial center of Takhar on the Tajikistan border.
"The last target for recapturing the lost territory around Taloqan was Tangi Farkhar," he said.
The Taliban militia forced out Masood supporters from the gorge soon after they captured Taloqan, an opposition bastion, on September 6.
The ruling militia had also made significant inroads into the opposition territory by capturing Khwajaghar district to the north and Chal region to the south, forcing them to pull back from the frontier districts of Imam Saheb and Dasht-i-Archi in nearby Kunduz province.
But a week ago Masood launched a major counter-attack to recapture the lost territory.
Habeel said opposition forces were now in full control of Khwajaghar, Chal and the two districts in Kunduz.
"These gains have made the recapture of Taloqan (one) hundred per cent easier," the opposition spokesman added.
A Taliban spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
But the Taliban official daily Anis reported Sunday the Afghan religious regime was ready for talks with the opposition.
The daily said education minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, recently appointed as Talilban emissary for peace, reaffirmed this position in his three-hour talks with UN peace enovy Francesc Vendrell in Kabul Saturday.
"We have always been ready for talks with the opposition any where and any time and have taken part with sincerity in these talks," Muttaqi was quoted as saying.
The Taliban religious students' movement took Kabul in 1996 and flushed out several warring factions from the rest of the country. Masood forces in the northeast regions serve as the last impediment to the Taliban's full control of the country -- KABUL (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
