BBC News Online: World: South Asia

Afghan opposition to open new fronts

A spokesman for the Afghan northern alliance commander, Ahmad Shah Masood, has said the opposition have decided to form a new military command.

The spokesman said the leaders met yesterday Wednesday in the Iranian city of Mashad and agreed that the ethnic Uzbek leader, General Dostum, who has been living outside Afghanistan, should resume military activities in Afghanistan.

It was agreed that the opposition would open up new battlefronts against Taleban forces in northwest Afghanistan where General Dostum has influence and where there was the potential to recruit new forces.

It was also agreed that another commander, General Ismael Khan, the former governor of Herat province, should open a new battlefront in western Afghanistan where he retains considerable influence.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service