TEHRAN (Reuters) - A leader of the Northern Alliance fighting Afghanistan's ruling Taliban was quoted on Thursday as saying the opposition now controlled more than 30 percent of the country after recent offensives.Opposition-held territory has previously been estimated at five to 10 percent of Afghanistan. (Read photo caption below) The statement by Northern Alliance foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, reported by Iran's IRNA news agency, could not be independently verified.
``We are in a comfortable position. Following the latest offensives, more than 30 percent of Afghan territory is under our control,'' he was quoted as telling IRNA in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, where he held talks with Russian and Tajik officials.
Abdullah also dismissed suggestions his forces were under pressure from Washington not to attack the Afghan capital Kabul.
The Alliance has been trying to take advantage of the U.S.-led military strikes against the Taliban to regain territories it has lost since the mid-1990s.
The Western powers are trying to promote a post-Taliban government that would be broader based than a simple takeover of Kabul by the Northern Alliance, which is led largely by minority ethnic groups and has had close ties to both Iran and Russia.
Abdullah dismissed suggestions that his fighters were waiting for a signal from Washington before moving on Kabul.
``It is up to us to plan a war strategy. The Alliance will decide when and how to move on Kabul,'' he said.
Abdullah said earlier this week that an offensive against Kabul would have to wait until a political solution was found.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Taliban prisoners held by the opposition Northern Alliance line up in the yard of a jail in Khoja Bahawuddin, October 18, 2001. A leader of the Northern Alliance was quoted as saying the opposition now controlled more than 30 percent of the country after recent offensives. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)