The tens of thousands of square miles of mountains form an intricate and seemingly endless maze of thousands of valleys, ravines and caves, some of which are inhabited.
In this cavernous mountain valley, scores of rusting tank carcasses mark where invading Soviet armored columns were decimated in the 1980s.
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Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the foreign minister of the rebel coalition known as the Northern Alliance, remembers that time well. He served as a physician with the anti-Soviet resistance.
But, in the latest turn of history, Russia, along with the United States, has become an ally in confronting the Islamic militant Taliban government and the terrorism suspect it harbors, Osama bin Laden.
“There should be air attacks by the Americans and rocket attacks by us, followed by advances by our ground forces,” Abdullah says. “Only by forcing the Taliban into smaller areas, where they can be targeted, will bombing be effective.”
Russia has promised to arm the alliance, and Western governments have indicated that they may try to further their attempt to capture or kill bin Laden by supporting the alliance and weakening his chief protector, the Taliban.
Abdullah warns that the Taliban did not appear to be daunted by this prospect. Its forces, in this strategic valley 45 miles north of Kabul and across northern Afghanistan, have reinforced their troops, moved men and equipment at will and, in some cases, mounted counterattacks, he says.
His account was based on intelligence obtained by the Northern Alliance, a loose coalition supported mainly by minority ethnic groups, including the Tajiks.
Abdullah and other rebel officials say that Arab and Pakistani soldiers allied with the Taliban who fled to the mountains soon after the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. have returned to their front-line positions.
The fact that the Taliban forces are so spread out across Afghanistan lowers the effectiveness of any United States air strikes, Abdullah argues.
“It will do part of the job, but not all of the job,” he says, emphasizing the potential importance of the Northern Alliance in any military campaign in this rugged terrain.
Abdullah also suggests that the U.S. do more to broadcast information in Afghanistan, where he believes most people still do not know about the terrorist attacks in the U.S.
Northern Alliance leaders estimate that even a well-coordinated effort would take weeks, and more likely months, to dislodge the Taliban.
And the foreign minister, whose government was ousted by the Taliban in 1996, suggests that the U.S. efforts are starting belatedly. Saying his alliance has been trying to combat terrorism here for years, he asks:
“What do you imagine it’s like being against Osama bin Laden–being alone and struggling for years, and being ignored and neglected for years?”