Fall of Mazari Sharif
{'<entity_0>': 'Fall of Mazari Sharif', '<entity_1>': '09 November 2001', '<entity_2>': 'Afghanistan War', '<entity_3>': 'Mazar-i-Sharif', '<entity_4>': 'battle', '<entity_5>': 'Balkh'}
[['Fall of Mazari Sharif', 'instance of', 'battle'], ['Fall of Mazari Sharif', 'part of', 'Afghanistan War'], ['Fall of Mazari Sharif', 'location', 'Mazar-i-Sharif'], ['Fall of Mazari Sharif', 'start time', '09 November 2001'], ['Fall of Mazari Sharif', 'location', 'Balkh']]
The <entity_0> (or Mazar-e-Sharif) in <entity_1> resulted from the first major offensive of the <entity_2> after American intervention. A push into the city of <entity_3> in <entity_5> 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. In the days leading up to the <entity_4>, Northern Alliance troops advanced on population centers near the city, such as Shol Ghar, which is 25 kilometers from <entity_3>. On November 7 and 8, as the Taliban were moving 4,000 fighters across the countryside towards <entity_3> in preparation for <entity_4>, American B-52 bombers bombed Taliban defenders concentrated in the Cheshmeh-ye Shafa 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. On <entity_1>, members of the two ODAs and the CIA team positioned themselves in mountainside hides and began calling in airstrikes against the Taliban at Tangi Pass - the gateway from the <entity_5> Valley to the city where the US and Northern Alliance agreed to attack.
['battle']