Taliban reportedly deserts Kabul as rebels move in

By Kathy Gannon

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan – Taliban military forces appeared to have deserted the capital of Kabul at dawn Tuesday after a series of stunning military victories by opposition forces over the past four days, witnesses said.

A Pentagon spokesman said he had no information about the claim.

Sporadic small arms fire from hills overlooking the city could be heard but the streets were empty of the Taliban soldiers, who had been there hours earlier.

From the rooftop of the Intercontinental Hotel on a hill overlooking Kabul, columns of Taliban vehicles could be seen heading south beginning Monday night. The exodus continued after sunrise.

Northern Alliance forces began moving into the capital in pickup trucks loaded with soldiers armed with rifles and rocket launchers. There was no shooting.

The opposition had broken through Taliban front lines Monday and taken the hills above Kabul after a string of victories that started Friday with the taking of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Before abandoning the capital, the Taliban circled the mile-high city with tanks to defend against an all-out assault.

Shouting “God is great,” anti-Taliban troops had rolled within 12 miles of Kabul on Monday on trucks carrying the green, white and black Afghan flag and displaying pictures of their slain commander, Ahmed Shah Massood.

The anti-Taliban forces, a coalition of factions and ethnic groups, capped their four-day dash across the north by overruning western Afghanistan’s biggest city, Herat. Commanders said they were pushing toward Kunduz, the last Taliban-held city in the north.

The Taliban losses followed an intensive bombing campaign by the United States, and some of the militia’s commanders switched sides once the opposition forces gained momentum.

President Bush launched the air campaign on Oct. 7 after the Taliban refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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