Posted on 11/13/2001 10:37:57 AM PST by Dirk McQuickly
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- The United States is closed to achieving its objective in Afghanistan: capturing suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and others responsible for the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, diplomatic sources in Islamabad said Tuesday.
Reports from Afghanistan recount lightening victories for the Northern Alliance, which had captured more than 40 percent of Afghanistan by Tuesday afternoon and were now moving toward the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.
"The fall of Kabul earlier Tuesday has sealed the fate of bin Laden and his protector, Mullah Omar, the so-called supreme leader of the Taliban," said a western diplomatic source in Islamabad.
"We will not be surprised if there is an uprising in Kandahar soon and people capture bin Laden and Mullah Omar and hand them over to the opposition forces," he said.
According to that source, U.S. intelligence officials in Afghanistan are now working with the opposition forces and Pashtun rebels in southern parts of the country to ensure that "the two fugitives are caught alive. They fear that angry opposition forces or others may kill them as soon as they are captured."
Hopes for a rapid collapse of the Taliban in Kandahar increased after an uprising against the militant group in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. Most Afghan experts expected the opposition forces to face some resistance in Jalalabad as it is a Pashtun city and most Taliban rulers are also Pashtuns.
"But such events show that the Taliban were not popular anywhere. People were just afraid of them. Now that the process has started, it will be difficult for the Taliban to prevent similar uprising even in Kandahar. We expect Kandahar to fall soon," Western diplomatic sources in Islamabad said.
Sheesh. Wake up, UPI editors!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.