AFGHANISTAN - Oct. 31 - Air Strike On Kabul, Kandahar & Mazar-i-Sharif.

US warplanes, including at least one B-52 bomber, carry out heavy air strikes against Taliban frontline positions north of Kabul. The biggest explosions are believed to be from 1,000-pound bombs intended to pound Taliban bunkers near the front lines close to the Bagram air base. US bombs also hit Kandahar, a stronghold of the ruling Taliban, and Mazar-i-Sharif, where forces of the opposition Northern Alliance have been waging an intermittent offensive against Taliban soldiers. Northern Alliance fighters, who recently said they did not receive sufficient air support to allow them to advance, cheered the bombing, with a Northern Alliance officer saying: "We are ready to move towards Mazar-i-Sharif". According to a senior Northern Alliance official, the alliance's defence chief Gen. Mohammad Qassim Fahim met with Gen. Tommy Franks, the US commander, on Oct. 30 in Dushanbe to discuss closer co-operation between US and alliance forces. The alliance official said: "Our side was happy" about 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". He forecast an escalation of fighting around Mazar-i-Sharif that would include tighter co-ordination with US forces. Since the start of the US bombing campaign Oct. 7, "a better understanding has been created between us, but it still needs some improvement". In Islamabad, the Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef said 1,500 people were killed since the US air strikes began 25 days ago. US and Northern Alliance officials said the Taliban were heavily exaggerating the civilian death toll, but provided no estimates of their own. On Nov. 1, senior Northern Alliance officials and commanders said intensified US bombing of Taliban positions north of Kabul was highly effective and gave the Northern Alliance hope it can soon break through the Taliban front and march on the capital. The alliance's Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said: "With effective, intense bombing of the front lines, it would be a matter of days to break through". He also said the alliance forces were nearing their highest state of readiness and would not be deterred from an offensive by any logistical problems or by the failure so far to form an interim government. In an interview earlier in the day, Abdurrab Rasul Sayyaf, a senior member of the alliance's leadership council, said the alliance had decided to launch an offensive on Kabul some time ago and had reaffirmed the decision in the last two weeks. He added: "You will see it soon. I can't say exactly when, but it is near". Sayyaf, a prominent Pashtun leader, said an agreement between the alliance and representatives of the former king Mohammad Zahir Shah was not a prerequisite for a march on Kabul. He said: "When we go to Kabul, within a week the schedule for a transitional government will be made".