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Article: A Win in the Fog Of War: After weeks of false starts, the Northern Alliance advances on the Taliban in the north, taking Mazar-e Sharif. As our allies fight to press on, the U.S. command is asking for more resources, including the Marines.
- Article from:
- Newsweek
- Article date:
- November 19, 2001
- Author:
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Byline: Joshua Hammer and John Barry
Sprawling across a dusty plain just south of the mountains of Uzbekistan, the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif is a place where war and religion collide. Warrens of mud-brick houses cluster around the town's single landmark: a crumbling lapis-lazuli mosque purported to be the burial place of Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad. For centuries this strategic town on the Central Asian Silk Road has also been a bloody battleground, fought over by conquerors from Alexander the Great to Genghis Khan, from the Soviets to the Taliban. The town's Persian name is grimly appropriate. It means "The Graveyard of the ...