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-Borzou Daragahi
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THE LIBERATION OF KABUL. The Taliban has hastily evacuated Kabul just
ahead of a Northern Alliance offensive into the Afghan capital. Northern
Alliance troops who entered into the city met absolutely no resistance,
but were instead cheered on by long-suffering residents of the
once-cosmopolitan city, Associated Press Islamabad chief Kathy Gannon
reports from Kabul. Witnesses told the A.P. that the Taliban hit the
road midnight Monday. They said they are going to Kandahar,'' Ajmal
Mir, a guard at the abandoned detention center where those eight
Christian relief workers were being held, told the A.P. Without any
resistance, the Northern Alliance also overran the liberal city of
Herat. In Mazar-e-Sharif, which the Northern Alliance took over Friday,
men lined up at barber shops to have their Taliban-mandated beards
shaved, and music - banned by the Taliban - could be heard from stores,
the A.P. reported. Half the city's women had discarded the all-covering
burqas required by the Taliban. Some retained traditional scarves
covering their hair, while others went bareheaded.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/2002/ts/attacks_afghanistan.html
In Kabul, the mood was celebratory but nervous. The scenes are
amazing, says the BBC's Kate Clark, who was granted permission by the
Northern Alliance to enter the capital. I'm surrounded by crowds of
people coming up to me, shaking my hand and shouting 'Peace be with you'
and 'May you live long.' Everyone seems very happy, jubilant that the
Taleban have been thrown out of their city. ... But as I talk to
Afghans, as well as jubilation there is some trepidation. People are
worried about security and some say there has been looting overnight,
particularly from houses where Taleban used to live. There is a security
vacuum in Kabul - what the people most feared. It is not yet clear who
will enforce law and order in what seems to be the post-Taleban era for
the Afghan capital.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/from_our_own_correspondent/newsid_1653000/1653253.stm
Events were taking place so fast that only a few broadcast outlets had
up-to-date coverage. Turn your radio to an NPR affiliate and listen for
reports by the BBC, which has a couple correspondents in Kabul. Even the
Northern Alliance seemed startled by the pace of events. Ahmed Rashid,
the Pakistani journalist who has been covering Afghanistan for more than
two decades, writes that the Taliban seriously miscalculated the impact
of the U.S. aerial assault, the Northern Alliance's resolve, and their
own unpopularity outside of southern Afghanistan. The result has been a
rout rather than a tactical retreat, he writes in an expansive and
worthwhile military strategy piece in the Nov. 13 London Telegraph. The
Taliban's greatest nightmare was the prospect of a popular uprising by
civilian populations who loathed their repressive government and viewed
them as alien occupiers from the south who had no representation from
their own minority ethnic groups.
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/11/13/war113.xmlsSheet=/news/2001/11/13/ixhome.html
Such lightning-quick routes are common in Afghan military history,
writes the Associated Press's Greg Myre. ``It's happened before,''
Tanvir Ahmed Khan, a political analyst and Pakistan's former foreign
secretary, tells the A.P. ``One side falters, commanders shift
loyalties, and large pieces of territory change hands overnight.''
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/2002/wl/attacks_afghan_warfare_1.html
The U.S. promised Pakistan the Northern Alliance wouldn't enter Kabul.
With the Taliban out of the capital, who will govern the country? BBC
radio the night of Nov. 12 reported widespread looting and anarchy in
and around the capital. In at least one instance Northern Alliance
troops shot an unarmed and wounded Taliban soldier. As the terrified
man begged for his life, the alliance soldiers pulled him to his feet,
writes David Rohde in the Nov. 13 New York Times. They searched him and
emptied his pockets. Then, one soldier fired two bursts from his rifle
into the man's chest. A second soldier beat the lifeless body with his
rifle butt. A third repeatedly smashed a rocket-propelled-grenade
launcher into the man's head. The killing occurred minutes after
Northern Alliance soldiers, advancing toward Kabul, surged deep into
Taliban territory. They chose to celebrate with executions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/13/international/asia/13AFGH.html
Such executions likely won't make the Pashtun Afghans of the south, the
ethnic group from which the Taliban draws Afghan supporters, warm any
further toward the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance, whom they already
hate. Neither will bombing civilian infrastructure such as hydroelectric
plants. The UN, in
