Why Aren Reporters in Mazar-i-Sharif Yet?
November 10, 2001 It’s heartening that the Northern Alliance took the strategic town of Mazar-i-Sharif from the Taliban. The sooner the war is won, the sooner we are safer and the sooner the suffering people in Afghanistan can be helped. What’s strange to me is that the Northern Alliance has apparently not brought any reporters into Mazar-i-Sharif to witness its triumph. The people of Mazar-i-Sharif hated that Taliban with a passion, not least because the Taliban massacred several thousand civilians when they captured the city. (This massacre was vengeance for a Northern Alliance massacre of Taliban forces the previous time the Alliance had gained control of the city.) Further, the population of Mazar-i-Sharif is made up of the same ethnic groups as the Northern Alliance, while the Taliban are predominantly of a different ethnic group, the Pashtuns. And among the Taliban are thousands of militants from Arab nations, who are widely unpopular in the city. So Mazar-i-Sharif would be expec
