The fall of Mazar-i-Sharif or Mazar-e-Sharif in November resulted from the first major offensive of the Afghanistan War after American intervention. Army Special Forces aerial bombardment , resulted in the withdrawal of Taliban forces who had held the city since 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 were captured, and approximately 1, reportedly defected.
The capture of Mazar-i-Sharif was the first major defeat for the Taliban. The Taliban captured Mazar-i-Sharif on 8 August and controlled it thereafter.
This led to widespread international condemnation, and further isolation of the Taliban regime. The decision to launch the war's first major strike against Mazar-i-Sharif came following a meeting between U. 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 Mazar-i-Sharif. Phonelines into the city were severed, [10] and American officials began reporting accounts of anti-Taliban forces charging Afghan tanks on horseback.
General 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. It was seized two days later. 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.
Special Forces set up laser designators to serve as beacons for guided munitions , highlighting targets around the city. He claimed that with Mazar-i-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.
