Taliban Capture Strategic Valley

The Taliban Islamic army took control of a strategic valley Friday, opening another route north after the country’s main north-south highway was blocked.

Fighting was reported in the Ghorband Valley on Thursday and early Friday. Fifty of northern warlord Rashid Dostum’s soldiers fled from 500 Taliban fighters Friday morning, Taliban leader Abdul Whahid said.

Beyond the Ghorband Valley lies Dostum’s stronghold, Mazar-e-Sharif.

On Monday, Dostum’s soldiers dynamited a mountain, sending a sea of boulders crashing down on the Salang Highway in an attempt to block advances by the Taliban.