“According to the Israeli intelligence news service DEBKAfile [on November 16, 2001], in mid-November [2001] the Northern Alliance was reinforced with two thousand men from the Russian Spetznaz special forces and six thousand men from special Uzbek units, transferred on the orders of President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, before a second attempt at Mazar-i-Sharif [Afghanistan]. These new troops from Russia and Uzbekistan, fighting alongside the Uzbek militia of the Northern Alliance, made a difference. The opposition captured Mazar-i-Sharif, and many Taliban fighters were killed.”
– Deepak Tripathi, Overcoming the Bush Legacy in Iraq and Afghanistan, Page 43