TAJIK OPPOSITION OFFENSIVE OPENS CORRIDOR FROM AFGHANISTAN.

Tajik opposition forces have established an overland route between the Afghan border and the opposition-controlled area in the Pamir foothills, according to Dushanbe military officials. The officials spoke following confirmation of reports that opposition units have captured several key villages in Tavildara district near the Afghan border, there a Tajik detachment successfully broke into Tajikistan from Afghanistan through Russian border troop defenses. The opposition captured important stockpiles of weapons, ammunition, and foodstuffs in Sagirdasht, which were defended by superior government forces unwilling to fight. Opposition units are closing in on Haburabad Pass, to which the government is rushing reinforcements. Capture of the pass would reliably secure the corridor just opened up by the opposition, expose Russian border troops to attacks from the rear, and all but doom the government’s position in central and eastern Tajikistan. The government is appealing to the UN mission to stop the opposition’s offensive. (Interfax, Itar-Tass, Radio Free Tajikistan, November 2 through 4)

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