Australia is sending a 150-man SAS unit to the Afghanistan region (in addition to Australians serving with British SAS units). This unit will provide numerous ground-recon teams that will work as part of an overall special forces plan. Australia is also sending two B707 aerial tankers and an amphibious transport ship; the ship will serve as home base for the Australian SAS unit.--Stephen V Cole

Fighting continued southwest of Mazar-i-Sharif, with Taliban troops taking back some territory. Bombing of Taliban fortifications around Mazar-i-Sharif and near the Tajik borders continued. The US appears to have decided to increase helping Northern Alliance troops. This has become easier as more US special forces troops build up experience working with the Northern Alliance troops and getting a better idea of how Afghans fight their wars. But bombing also continued against Taliban headquarters and barracks to the south in Kandahar and what appear to be cave complexes outside the cities. 

Overnight, it snowed in the hills outside Kabul.