Taliban flee Kandahar, Taliban rule reportedly over

Well if this is true that was quick and decisive.

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<b>Taliban Flee Kandahar; Omar Missing </b>


<i>KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Taking their weapons with them, Taliban fighters abandoned their last bastion Kandahar on Friday and were attacked by U.S. ground forces. Witnesses in the southern city said joyous residents poured into the streets and tore down the Taliban white flag.

<b>Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar was missing and would be arrested if found, according to Afghanistan's interim leader. The commander of the U.S. military campaign, Gen. Tommy Franks, said ``we simply do not know where he is right now.'' </b>

Outside Kandahar, U.S. forces were firing on fleeing Taliban forces, Franks told a news conference in Washington.


``We have engaged forces who are leaving Kandahar with their weapons,'' he said. U.S. warplanes also launched airstrikes around the city, but it wasn't clear whether they were trying to stop fleeing Taliban.

<b>Elsewhere, U.S. Marines killed seven Taliban and al-Qaida fighters near Kandahar in what was their first ground combat in Afghanistan. And in the mountainous east, fierce fighting and heavy U.S. bombing raged around Tora Bora, a cave hide-out occupied by al-Qaida fighters — and where anti-Taliban forces believe Osama bin Laden is hiding.

``The Taliban rule is finished. As of today they are no longer a part of Afghanistan,'' Hamid Karzai, the new head of the U.N.-backed provisional government, said in a satellite telephone interview with The Associated Press.</b>

Fleeing Taliban fighters backed out of a deal to hand in weapons to another opposition tribal leader, Karzai said from a desert base outside the southern city.


``The Taliban ran away with their weapons,'' he said. ``The leaders and the soldiers, they have all run away from the city.''

<b>Some residents, however, maintained that weapons were handed in by departing Taliban fighters.

Witnesses said overjoyed residents poured into the streets carrying pictures of Afghanistan's deposed king. Others tore down the Taliban's white flag in favor of Afghanistan's old royal red, black and green ensign. </b>

Looting and gunfire were reported in some parts, but by nightfall commanders in charge of the handover said peace had returned to the city. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity in Washington, said opposition forces were in control of most of Kandahar.

``The process of surrender has been completed and now the city is calm and peaceful,'' said Haji Bashar, a commander involved in the handover.

Karzai said Omar's whereabouts were unknown.

``But, of course, I want to arrest him,'' he said. ``I have given him every chance to denounce terrorism and now the time has run out. He is an absconder, a fugitive from justice.''

Karzai and a Pakistani intelligence source who spoke on condition of anonymity said they believe Omar and what's left of the Taliban and allied foreign fighters of al-Qaida headed for mountain hide-outs in Zabul province northeast of Kandahar.

After a surrender deal had been reached with the Taliban on Thursday, Karzai refused to say what would happen to Omar. That drew a sharp response from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who said Washington was prepared to re-evaluate its relationship with anti-Taliban groups who allow Omar to escape punishment.

On Friday, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition said he was confident the new Afghan authorities would capture Omar.

``At some point in the reasonable future ... he will be in the hands of the opposition. And, at that point, we hope to be able to cooperate to bringing him to justice,'' said Kenton Keith, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.

The murky surrender pact made no mention of bin Laden or the hundreds of Arabs, Pakistanis, Chechens and other foreign fighters who follow him. On Friday, Karzai promised to capture foreign al-Qaida fighters and bring them to trial.

In eastern Afghanistan, American jets made repeated runs over the forested mountains Friday, bombing hide-outs of bin Laden loyalists and filling the valleys with smoke and dust.

Anti-Taliban commanders said Arab fighters had abandoned their main caves as the bombardment and ground attacks intensified, and had moved with their families into smaller caves higher in the mountains. Between airstrikes, fighters reported seeing the children of Arab guerrillas playing outside caves.

The al-Qaida fighters rained mortar shells, rockets and bullets from their mountaintop positions, firing at pickup trucks packed with tribal fighters heading to and from the front lines. Tribal fighters responded with tank fire and mortar bombardments.

In the desert around Kandahar, U.S. Marines searched for Taliban stragglers. Early Friday, one ``hunter-killer'' Marine patrol confronted a three-car enemy convoy and responded by calling in air and ground attacks.

Seven Taliban and al-Qaida fighters were killed in what was the Marines' first offensive ground action in Afghanistan, said a Marine spokesman, Capt. David Romley. No U.S. personnel were injured.

Later Friday, three Cobra attack helicopters scrambled after reports came in of an approaching convoy and the American base was place on heightened alert. It was unclear how far the convoy was from the base or whether it presented a substantial threat.

As they dug into their fighting holes near Camp Rhino, the Marines described their emotions after Friday's early morning combat.

``It's a feeling, adrenaline takes over your body, you don't have time to worry,'' said Staff Sgt. Alejandro Quiroz of National City, Calif.

The Taliban began surrendering Kandahar on Friday after two months of U.S. airstrikes and advances by opposition forces that drove them from most of the country. A day earlier, they had agreed to leave the city provided regular fighters received amnesty and Omar's safety was guaranteed.

<b>Their hasty departure, similar to their abandonment of other Afghan cities in recent weeks, came despite earlier pledges to defend Kandahar to the death. </b>

Karzai confirmed that chaos had broken out in several areas within Kandahar as a result of Taliban flight. He said there was no fighting among rival forces.

However, frightened residents reported skirmishes among armed gangs. Speaking by satellite telephone from the city, one resident said armed unidentified men had set up checkpoints on some main roads.

``It's quite chaotic,'' said the resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ``We are scared that the situation could really get out of hand.''

On Friday, Karzai said he has set up a tribal commission that will go to Kandahar to take control of the city within a day or so.

In the meantime, Taliban personnel were returning to their homes, said Mullah Mohammed Khaqzar, who defected from the Taliban to join the opposition northern alliance. </i>