Heavy carpet bombing in Afghanistan

The Pentagon has confirmed reports that B-52 bombers are in use in Afghanistan. Admiral John Stufflebeam said that B-52s were carpet bombing Taliban targets all over Afghanistan.

The policy of carpet bombing appears to mark a new phase in the US-led military campaign. US warplanes have primarily been bombing individual targets in the past weeks.

The Taliban reported they had been successful in beating off a Northern Alliance offensive on positions close to the strategic city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press quoted a Taliban spokesman as saying the battle with Northern Alliance forces had lasted three hours.

The Taliban has also claimed that the US attacks have cost the lives of 1,500 civilians.

The US continued widespread bombing of Taliban targets on Wednesday. Aircraft attacked positions around Mazar-i-Sharif, Kabul and Kandahar. Raids were reported along the border to Tajikistan and close to the city of Herat.

Bomb damage on show

Foreign journalists have been allowed into Khandahar for the first time since bombing began on October 7. The reporters were shown a row of destroyed shops next to a Taliban ministry.

The city has been cut off from electricity supplies since the air attacks. The sanitary situation is said to be appalling.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, has failed to persuade Iran to allow more Afghan refugees into the country. Officials in Teheran told him they would keep their border with Afghanistan closed.

The UNHCR has predicted that between 100 to 400 thousand Afghans might be heading to Iran. The situation on Afghanistan's northern border with Tajikistan is similar.

Refugee agencies are having increasing problems getting them into Afghanistan.

German humanitarian agencies are sure that this problem can be solved. Refugees living in the areas controlled by the Northern Alliance will, one hopes, survive the coming winter. In the south, however, the Taliban are in control. It is here that a humanitarian catastrophe is feared.

Meanwhile, more and more countries who have shown support for the US-led campaign against terrorism are now urging caution.

As more reports of wounded Afghan civilians fleeing the bombing come in, governments are calling for restraint, while some demand the immediate end to the military campaign - especially with the holy month of Ramadam due to begin soon.

Strong support from Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputi has turned to "great concern" as the attacks appear to continue into Ramadam. Saudi Arabia appears to be increasingly unhappy with the situation.

There is mounting opposition in Turkey to the country's participation in the US-led operation. And first doubts are showing up in Malaysia, Kuwait and India.

In Europe, support is particularly lukewarm in Italy and Greece. Germany's population seems divided. But support is still stolid in France and Spain.