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76 ~ TALIBANTaliban launched an offensive from three directions on Bamiyan, whichfell on 13 September 1998 after some Hazara commanders surrendered tothe Taliban. Karim Khalili and other Wahadat leaders, together withmuch of the population of the town, took to the hilb as the first Talibantroops entered. This time, due to repeated international appeals to respecthuman rights, Mullah Omar ordered his troops to restrain themselvesagainst Hazara civilians. Nevertheless killings did take place in Bamiyana few weeks after the Taliban entered. In one village near Bamiyan 50old men, who were left behind after the younger population escaped, werekilled by the Taliban. 16In another tragedy on 18 September, just five days after they occupiedBamiyan, Taliban fighters dynamited the head of the small Buddha colossus,blowing its face away. They fired rockets at the Buddha's groin, damagingthe luxurious folds of the figure and destroying the intricate frescoesin the niche, where the statue stood. The two Buddhas, Afghanistan'sgreatest archaeological heritage, had stood for nearly 2,000 years and hadwithstood the assault of the Mongols. Now the Taliban were destroyingthem. It was a crime that could not be justified by any appeals to Islam.For the Iranians the fall of Bamiyan was the last straw. Iran said it hadthe right of self-defence under international law and the UN Chartertake all necessary action against the Taliban - exactly the same argumentused by Washington for its missile strike. A week later Iran's Supreme;Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomenei warned of a huge war which could engulrlthe entire region. He accused Pakistan of using troops and aircraft in thecapture of Bamiyan, which was denied by Islamabad. Iran-Pakistan relationssunk to a new low as Tehran flexed its muscles. Seventy thousand;Iranian Revolutionary Guards, backed by tanks and aircraft, began thelargest military exercises ever along the Iran-Afghanistan border. IOctober some 200,000 regular Iranian troops began another series of exercises along the border as the Taliban mobilized some 5,000 fighters tdtprevent an expected Iranian invasion.As the UN Security Council expressed fears of an all - out Iranianattack, it sent Lakhdar Brahimi back to the region. The military tensionsbetween Iran and the Taliban only subsided when Brahimi met with)Mullah Omar in Kandahar on 14 October 1998. It was the first time thatiOmar had ever met with a UN official or foreign diplomat who wasPakistani. Omar agreed to release all the Iranian truck drivers, returndead bodies of the Iranian diplomats and promised to improve relatiwith the UN.The Taliban's confrontation with Iran had given Masud the timespace to regroup his forces and the remaining Uzbek and Hazara fighowho had not surrendered. At the same time, increased arms suppliiincluding vehicles and helicopters, reached him from Russia and I:BAMIYAN 1998-2000: THE NEVER-ENDING WAR ~ 77Masud launched a series of well co-ordinated, lightning attacks in thenorth east, capturing a huge swathe of territory back from the Taliban,especially along Afghanistan's sensitive border with Tajikistan andUzbekistan. There were some 2,000 Taliban casualties during Octoberand November as the demoralized, poorly supplied and cold Taliban garrisonsfought briefly and then surrendered to Masud. On 7 December 1998Masud held a meeting of all field commanders opposed to the Taliban inthe Panjshir valley. The collapse of the Hazara and Uzbek leadership hadleft Masud and his Tajiks supreme and the commanders, who includedseveral prominent Pashtuns, appointed Masud as the military commanderof all anti-Taliban forces.The Taliban offensive, the massacre of Hazaras and the confrontationwith Iran, along with the US cruise-missile attack dramatically underminedthe fragile balance of power in the region. The Taliban's cleansweep also infuriated Russia, Turkey and the Central Asian states whoblamed Pakistan and Saudi Arabia for backing the Taliban. Thesharpened war of words increased the regional polarization between thetwo blocks of states. The foreign and defence ministers of Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and Russian officials met in Tashkenton 25 August 1998 to co-ordinate joint military and political plansto halt the Taliban advance.The consequences of the regional escalation were enormous: there wasthe danger of a war between Iran and the Taliban, which could also suckin Pakistan on the side of the Taliban; Western investors and oil companiesbecame wary of further investments in the oil-rich Caspian nations;the danger of Islamic fundamentalism spreading to the already economicallyimpoverished Central Asian states increased and anti-US feelingacross the region escalated; Pakistan became more deeply polarized asIslamic parties demanded Islamicization.The international community remained frustrated with the Taliban'sintransigence in refusing to form a broad-based government, change itsstance on the gender issue and accept diplomatic norms of behaviour. UNaid agencies were unable to return to Kabul. Washington was nowobsessed with Bin Laden's capture and the Taliban's refusal to hand himover. Even close ally Saudi Arabia, which felt insulted by the protectionthat the Taliban were giving Bin Laden, pulled out its diplomatic representationin Kabul and ceased all official funding for the Taliban, leavingPakistan as their sole provider.These international frustrations resulted, on 8 December 1998, in thetoughest UN Security Council Resolution on Afghanistan to date. TheResolution threatened unspecified sanctions against the Taliban for harbouringinternational terrorists, violating human rights, promoting drugstrafficking and refusing to accept a cease-fire. 'Afghanistan-based terrorism