Northern Alliance foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah said on Sunday that the Taliban had lost the bulk of their forces in opposition offensives across northern Afghanistan. Abdullah said that opposition fighters had captured the central city of Bamiyan and Taloqan, capital of the northeastern province of Takhar, and did not rule out a move on Kabul.
Voicing surprise that Taliban forces had not withrawn earlier from northern Afghanistan, Abdullah said the Islamic militia had paid a heavy price as the opposition seized five northern provinces in the past three days. “The importance of this big defeat is not just that they lost large areas, but they also lost their main fighting force,” Abdullah told reporters in this town north of Kabul.
Bureau Report