Posted on 11/10/2001 9:08:55 AM PST by HAL9000
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AP)-- Residents of Mazar-e-Sharif sacrificed sheep Saturday to celebrate the defeat of the Taliban in their city and the Afghan city's new rulers vowed that women there will no longer have to be veiled, a top official said.Fighters of the opposition alliance drove Taliban forces out of Mazar-e-Sharif, the main city in northern Afghanistan, on Friday, a key victory that leaves the alliance in control of the areas bordering Uzbekistan. That is likely to open up supply routes to the poorly equipped fighters.
"The general mood of the people is very good," said Mohammed Hasham Saad, the top alliance official in Uzbekistan.
Saad said that after Taliban fighters fled, people gathered to sacrifice sheep and pray in the blue-tiled mosque that dominates the center of the city.
Saad said the alliance's first priority will be to restore electricity and gas in the city. He said the city was largely untouched by the fighting and there is little damage to buildings.
The Taliban forced women to veil themselves, but Saad said that under the alliance, women in Mazar-e-Sharif will be no longer have to be veiled.
The alliance plans to reopen the University of Mazar-e-Sharif "for girls and boys," he said.
Girls were banned from schools under the Taliban, some of whose views on religion and women are shared by some people within the opposition alliance.
The alliance is also inviting foreign doctors to the city.
"It doesn't matter if it is a man or a woman," Saad said. "We are different from the Taliban."
Saad said that the alliance's victory was due not only to a massive U.S. bombing campaign that killed hundreds of Taliban fighters, but also to popular support in the city, which is mostly ethnic Uzbek and Tajik, the two groups that dominate the alliance.
After alliance fighters broke through the Taliban lines and entered the city, some residents of Mazar-e-Sharif who were former fighters took out AK-47 assault rifles that they had been hiding and opened fire on the Taliban, Saad said.
"The residents from inside of Mazar revolted against the Taliban," he said. "The people took out the weapons they had hidden and shot at the Taliban and the foreigners."
He said that the Taliban had fled the city, leaving behind some 700 Pakistani volunteer who had just arrived Thursday.
"The newly arrived Pakistanis couldn't find a way to flee the city," Saad said.
The Pakistanis hid in a school and the home of a former commander which were quickly surrounded by alliance fighters who called on the Pakistanis to surrender or be killed, Saad said.
The Pakistanis surrendered Saturday afternoon, he said.
"'They are in Mazar jail and the authorities will decide what to do," he said.
However, a commander of a Shiite Muslim faction within the opposition forces said anti-Taliban forces overran the school, captured 50 Pakistanis and Arabs and killed another 1,000 of them. That claim was denied by Abdul Hanan Hemat, chief of the Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency.
Saad said that some 300 injured Taliban fighters are in the city's hospital.
Copyright 2001 Associated Press, All rights reserved
I expect this got real messy.
That was the point.
I'll bet. Maybe it went something like, "I remember you. You're the one who beheaded my sister because her veil wasn't within regulation".
(ratt-a-tatt-tatt)
Thank You, God, for guiding our troops (& the Northern Alliance) to this victory.
How could it be otherwise when thousands of Afghani men have been summarily executed, and women raped, by the Taliban. Like Saddam, the Taliban have used brutality and terror to overtake people, and then have to continue use it to maintain control over those who hate them for it.
Hopefully death.
This is encouraging. At least they are sacrificing sheep instead of being sheep.
Thank goodness I keep a roll of paper towels by the computer now. The coffee spewed from my mouth, onto the monitor ...
This disturbs me. You know, studies prove that an AK-47 is much more likely to hurt a family member than a fleeing Taliban.
Reached for the paper towels AGAIN...
Sounds like life got better for everyone but the sheep.
That's it ... I ain't touching my coffee for the rest of this thread! Three strikes (or spews) you're OUT!
Sexually molested by the Taliban, then executed by the Northern Alliance--where are the animal rights activists when you really need them? ;-)
Just when I thought it was safe.
FOUR TIMES I laughed out loud, and had to wipe off the monitor. That's a new record!!! Thanks for the laughs!
Does anyone here know if ANIMAL SACRIFICE is actually a part of Islam?
Sorry for my ignorance.
Lessee, 1,000 martrs, "Calling for 72,000 virgins....calling". Where are all the virgins now that they need them.
Article should read: "Residents of Mazar-e-Sharif celebrate Taliban rout and also destroy Osama's sex life!
ROTFL!"...residents of Mazar-e-Sharif who were former fighters took out AK-47 assault rifles that they had been hiding and opened fire on the Taliban..."
This disturbs me. You know, studies prove that an AK-47 is much more likely to hurt a family member than a fleeing Taliban.
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