US strikes deeper into Taliban-held territory in north

Juma Khan was less than 100 metres away when the American bomb hit. "I can't really tell you what it was like," the young Northern Alliance opposition fighter says. "It was so close, all I could see were lights in front of my eyes."

The huge crater where the bomb hit is clearly visible opposite – a white gash where a chunk was blown out of the brown, featureless hillside. When the planes came, Mr Khan was at a forward position on the front line. "I was not afraid," he claims. "If I was afraid, how could I sleep here?"

Mr Khan and a group of fighters are standing by a rusty old mortar, pointing out the damage caused by the bomb. The Taliban positions are just a few hundred metres away, behind a row of trees.

A sniper's rifle shot cracks sharply overhead. "The Taliban are shooting at us," smiles Mr Khan. None of the fighters even flinch – they stay where they are, in the open.

The Americans bombed here for the first time on Sunday, in what appeared to be an attack co-ordinated with the Northern Alliance.

The United States is stepping up its campaign in the north of the country. It confirmed yesterday it had made further raids on positions deeper inside Taliban territory, and an official said America was considering establishing a military base in northern Afghanistan to support the opposition Northern Alliance.

Meanwhile, the Alliance confirmed a special five-hour meeting was held on Sunday between three senior commanders, including General Rashid Dostum, who has changed sides repeatedly but remains the key to the main northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Abdul Vadud, an Alliance diplomat, said the offensive on Mazar would begin within two to three days so it could be finished by the start of Ramadan on 17 November.

All eyes are on the far north. The Americans are interested because they want access to Mazar. The city would give them a possible air base among the mountains, and access to the paved road north to Uzbekistan to bring in military hardware and aid for the country's starving people. There are only a handful of paved roads in Afghanistan. The alternative is to bump along the dirt tracks full of three-feet deep potholes, that only Russian jeeps can negotiate.

To get their hands on Mazar, the Americans appear to be relying on the Northern Alliance to make inroads in the north.

It is a strange alliance. The American planes fly over in minutes, leaving devastation in their wake. For the Afghans, the only way to the front line is to wade chest-high through the torrents of a fast-flowing river – or, if they're lucky, cross it on horseback. Even ammunition is transported by horse.

The Northern Alliance plans for this front line to be part of a three-pronged offensive, aimed at linking up with their allies – loose allies, in the case of General Dostum – trying to capture Mazar further west. Two groups are attacking Mazar, but they are in pockets of Alliance territory completely surrounded by the Taliban.

An offensive here would link their forces with the rest of the Northern Alliance. But there are no guarantees the alliance with General Dostum, and others, would hold together beyond forcing the Taliban out. The US could find itself tiptoeing through a fractious north.

"Of course we are happy America is here," said Mohammed Hussein Khak Sur, another of the Northern Alliance fighters on the front line. "Why didn't they come before? We've been fighting the terrorists here for years." The word "terrorist" is on the lips of all the Northern Alliance fighters these days.

Mr Khak Sur, Mr Khan, and all the others on this front line post, have been here for five years. They all come from the same town, Qunduz, which was captured by the Taliban five years ago. When it fell, they escaped, and were kept together and redeployed here. To these soldiers, an offensive is not about Mazar, it is about going home.

Mr Khak Sur and the other fighters were depressed there was no further bombing here yesterday. The extent of the damage caused by Sunday's bombing was not clear – most of the bombs fell behind the hills occupied by the Taliban.

The fighters said they had heard of as many as 50 deaths listening in to Taliban radio communications.

But this is not a country that offers much in the way of targets for modern air campaigns – there is little on these front lines bar the odd tank dug into a hillside – and many of the bombs may have just blown pieces out of the hills.