Fall of Mazari Sharif The fall of Mazar - e - Sharif in November 2001 was the result of the first major offensive of the Afghanistan War . A push into the city of Mazari Sharif in the Balkh Province by the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( Northern Alliance ) , combined with U . S . Army Special Forces aerial bombardment , resulted in the withdrawal of Taliban forces who had held the city since 1998 . After the fall of outlying villages , and an intensive aerial bombardment , the Taliban and al - Qaeda forces withdrew from the city . Several hundred pro - Taliban fighters , including many Pakistani volunteers , were killed , approximately 500 were captured , and approximately 1 , 000 reportedly defected . The capture of Mazari Sharif was considered the first major defeat for the Taliban . Leadup . The Taliban had controlled the city since their recapture of it in 1997 . The decision to launch the first major strike of the war against Mazar - e - Sharif came following a meeting between U . S . Army General Tommy Franks with Northern Alliance commander Mohammed Fahim in Tajikstan on October 30 . In the days leading up to the battle , Northern Alliance troops advanced on population centers near the city such as Shol Ghar , 25 kilometers from Mazar - e - Sharif . In addition , phonelines into the city were severed , and American officials began reporting accounts of anti - Taliban forces charging Afghan tanks on horseback . Propaganda leaflets were dropped from airplanes , showing a woman being struck by a man and asking if this was how the Afghans wanted to live , and listing the radio frequencies over which Americans would be broadcasting their own version of events . Meanwhile , U . S . Special Forces were setting up laser designator s to serve as a beacon for guided munition s highlighting targets around the city . General Abdul Rashid Dostum led the ethnic - Uzbek dominated faction of the Northern Alliance , the Junbish - i - Milli Islami Afghanistan , in an attack on the village of Keshendeh south - west of the city on November 4 , seizing it with his horse - mounted troops . General Noor , meanwhile , led 2 , 000 ethnic - Tajik dominated Jamiat - e Islami forces against the village of Ag Kupruk directly south of the city , along with six Special Forces soldiers , and seven others who directed bombing from behind Taliban lines north of the city . It was seized two days later . Ethnic Hazara forces of Mohammad Mohaqiq ' s Hezbe Wahdat also took part in the offensive . On November 7 , New York University Director of Studies on International Cooperation Barnett Rubin appeared before the American Committee on International Relations hearing on " The Future of Afghanistan " , and warned that with Mazar - e - Sharif clearly on the brink of invasion , there was a responsibility to ensure that there were no reprisal killings of Taliban members by the Northern Alliance ; noting that the last two times the city had been overrun ( in 1997 and 1998 ) , thousands had been murdered by both sides . Bombing campaign . As the Taliban began moving 4 , 000 fighters across the countryside towards Mazar - e - Sharif in preparation for battle , American forces launched a bombing campaign through November 7 – 8 . B - 52 bombers bombed Taliban defenders concentrated in the Chesmay - e - Safa gorge that marked the southern entrance to the city , as well as the Haji Gak pass which was the only Taliban - controlled entrance to the city . This was one of the heaviest bombings of the war up to that point . Nevertheless , the Taliban stated they were still able to bring 500 fighters into the city to prepare for the coming battle . Battle . There were initially rumors that the Afghan fighters were unimpressed by the American bombardment and refused to advance on the city , but at 2 p . m . Northern Alliance forces , under the command of Generals Dostum and Ustad Atta Mohammed Noor , swept across the Pul - i - Imam Bukhri bridge and seized the city ' s main military base and the Mazari Sharif Airport . They had originally been holding a position 22 kilometres outside the city . The " ragtag " non - uniformed Northern Alliance forces entered the city from the Balk Valley on " begged , borrowed and confiscated transportation " , and met only light resistance . After outlying villages fell to precision air strikes on key command and control centers , approximately 5 , 000 - 12 , 000 Taliban combatants as well as members of al - Qaeda and other foreign fighters began their withdrawal from the city towards Kunduz to regroup , travelling in pickup trucks , SUVs and flatbed trucks fitted with ZU - 23 - 2 ' s ( anti - aircraft guns modified for ground combat ) . By sunset , the Taliban forces had retreated to the north and east . There were fears that they were massing for a counter - offensive . It was later estimated that 400 - 600 people had died in the battle , although it was not possible to separate the numbers of civilians from combatants . Approximately 1 , 500 Taliban were captured or defected to the U . S . - backed opposition . Upholding the claim by Taliban officials that they would be able to move 500 fresh fighters into the city , as many as 900 Pakistani volunteers reached Mazar - e - sharif in the following days as the majority of the Taliban were evacuating . It was determined later that many of these fighters were recruited by a Pakistani Mullah , Sufi Mohammed , who used a loudspeaker riveted onto pickup trucks which blared , " Those who die fighting for God don ' t die ! Those who go on jihad live forever , in paradise ! " When these volunteers reached the city in the days as the Taliban were evacuating , many of them were alone and confused . The group , chiefly consisting of teenage boys , gathered in the Sultan Razia Girls ' School , where they began negotiating their surrender , but hundreds of them were ultimately killed . For almost two days as the group gathered in the abandoned Sultan Razia Girls ' School building up their fighting positions , the town officials and Northern Alliance attempted negotiations for their surrender , but the fighters vehemently refused , ultimately killing two peace envoys , one town mullah and a soldier escort . All the while they constantly fired at anyone that moved within the vicinity of the building , including civilian bystanders . After the murders of the envoys , the Northern Alliance began returning fire on the school with machine guns with little effect . This gun battle went on for hours . Inside the battered school , someone scrawled on the walls the words of their mullah : " Die for Pakistan " and " Never surrender . " At mid - afternoon , U . S . military advisers approved the building for a bombing run . Army Col . Rick Thomas of the U . S . Central Command said they had determined the school was an appropriate target , as " Our philosophy has been surrender or die . " Officials from the United Nations and other organisations suggested that it may have been a massacre by Northern Alliance troops after they surrendered in the school moments before an American warplane dropped two , or four , 1000 - pound bombs , resulting in the Taliban members scattering quickly to escape , and the Northern Alliance shooting them as they fled , resulting in an alleged 800 fatalities . Later reports suggested instead that the Northern Alliance had shelled the school , rather than an American warplane dropping bombs on it , but following the battle , United States Air Force Sgt . Stephen E . Tomat was awarded the Silver Star for calling in the air strike on six vehicles and a school . Aftermath . The fall of the city proved to be a " major shock " , since the United States Central Command had originally believed that the city would remain in Taliban hands well into the following year , and any potential battle would be " a very slow advance " . Mazar - e - Sharif had significant strategic importance , as its capture opened supply routes and provided an airstrip inside the country for American aircraft . The battle was considered the first major defeat for the Taliban , and to have precipitated a rapid loss of territory in northern Afghanistan . Following rumors that Mullah Dadullah might be headed to recapture the city with as many as 8 , 000 Taliban fighters , a thousand U . S . Army Rangers were airlifted into the city , which provided the first solid foothold from which Kabul and Kandahar could be reached . After the fall of the city , there were reports of jubilant excitement among locals , followed by reports of summary execution s and the kidnapping of civilians by the Northern Alliance . The Pakistani prisoners who were captured fleeing the school were held as " slaves " and often sexually abused by their Northern Alliance captors who demanded a ransom from their families for their return . The American - backed forces now controlling the city began immediately broadcasting from Radio Mazar - e - Sharif , the former Taliban Voice of Sharia channel on 1584 kHz , including an address from former President Burhanuddin Rabbani . The foreign media outlets were still prohibited from access to American troops or access to battlesites at this time , meaning that the only information about Mazar - e - Sharif that was broadcast by Western outlets was the version of events dictated by the American military . The airfield , the city ' s main prize for the Americans , had been badly damaged by their own bombardment of the city , and had been boobytrap ped with explosives planted by the Taliban as they left in and around the property . This created a rift in the NATO alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States , as the former charged that the aerial bombardment had been ill - advised , and that the United States had failed to pay sufficient attention to humanitarian concerns and had refused to consult with its allies . The destroyed runways on the airfield were patched by local Afghans hired to fill bomb craters with asphalt and tar by hand , and the first cargo plane was able to land ten days after the battle . The airbase was not declared operational until December 11 . While prior military flights had had to be launched from Uzbekistan or aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea , the Americans now held their own airport in the country which allowed them to fly more frequent sorties against the Taliban frontlines , carrying heavier payload s .