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:::''For other uses, see Battles of Mazar-e-Sharif'' The fall of Mazari Sharif (or Mazar-e-Sharif) that took place on November 2001 resulted from the first major offense for the Afghanistan War after American intervention. A push into the city of Mazari Sharif in Balkh Province by the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (Northern Alliance), combined with U.S. Army Special Forces aerial bombardment, resulted in the withdrawal of Taliban forces who had held the city since 1998. After the fall of outlying villages, and an intensive bombardment, the Taliban and al-Qaeda forces withdrew from the city. Several hundred pro-Taliban fighters, including many Pakistani volunteers, were killed. Approximately 500 were captured, and approximately 1,000 reportedly defected. The capture of Mazari Sharif was the first major defeat for the Taliban. ==Preparation== The Taliban recaptured the city in 1997 and controlled it thereafter.〔(Opposition troops closing in on Mazari Sharif )〕 The decision to launch the war's first major strike against Mazari Sharif came following a meeting between U.S. Army General Tommy Franks and Northern Alliance commander Mohammed Fahim in Tajikistan on October 30, 2001.〔Chipman, Don. "Air power and the Battle for Mazar e Sharif", Spring 2003〕 In the days leading up to the battle, Northern Alliance troops advanced on population centers near the city, such as Shol Ghar, which is 25 kilometers from Mazari Sharif. Phonelines into the city were severed,〔 and American officials began reporting accounts of anti-Taliban forces charging Afghan tanks on horseback.〔Independent Online, (US, Taliban both claim success in offensives ), November 8, 2001〕 Propaganda leaflets were dropped from airplanes, showing a woman being struck by a man and asking if this was how the Afghans wanted to live, and listing the radio frequencies over which Americans would be broadcasting their own version of events.〔 Meanwhile, U.S. Special Forces set up laser designators to serve as beacons for guided munitions, highlighting targets around the city.〔 General Abdul Rashid Dostum led the ethnic-Uzbek-dominated faction of the Northern Alliance, the Junbish-i-Milli Islami Afghanistan, in an attack on the village of Keshendeh southwest of the city on November 4, seizing it with his horse-mounted troops.〔 General Noor, meanwhile, led 2,000 men of the ethnic-Tajik-dominated Jamiat-e Islami forces against the village of Ag Kupruk directly south of the city, along with six Special Forces soldiers and seven others who directed bombing from behind Taliban lines north of the city. It was seized two days later.〔 Ethnic Hazara forces of Mohammad Mohaqiq's Hezbe Wahdat took part in the offensive.〔 On November 7, the New York University's Director of Studies on International Cooperation, Barnett Rubin, appeared before a hearing of the American House Committee on International Relations on "The Future of Afghanistan". He claimed that with Mazari Sharif on the brink of invasion, the US was responsible to ensure that there were no reprisal killings of Taliban members by the Northern Alliance. He noted that when the city had been overrun (in 1997 and 1998), thousands had been murdered by both sides.〔United States House of Representatives, (The Future of Afghanistan ), November 7, 2001〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fall of Mazari Sharif」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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