U-S warplanes have launched their heaviest attack yet on the Taleban front lines in northeast Afghanistan.
Fighter jets and B-52 bombers roared over the area in Takhar province for at least five hours today (Sunday), striking Taleban troops entrenched against the opposition Northern Alliance.
To the west, the Taleban says its forces have recaptured Aq-Kupruk, a key district south of the strategically important northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
The Northern Alliance had claimed its forces captured Aq-Kupruk Saturday in heavy fighting. Northern Alliance officials have confirmed today's fighting in the area was going against them.
The Taleban also denied a Northern Alliance claim that hundreds of Taleban fighters defected to the opposition.
Meanwhile, the top U-S general says the campaign against the Taleban is going according to plan. In a television interview today (with N-B-C), Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Richard Myers said more U-S special operations teams have entered Afghanistan to work with opposition leaders.
The general also said the U-S military will keeping fighting through the harsh Afghan winter. He said the United States will re-supply the Northern Alliance, and he predicted anti-Taleban forces will be better prepared for the winter than the Taleban.