Afghanistan's Taliban are finding it difficult to hold on to the remaining areas under their control as fighters are deserting the front lines around Kandahar and more residents are rising against the ruling regime in some eastern and southern provinces.
In Kabul, an opposition official said there were reports of uprisings against the Taliban by residents in eastern Nangarhar province as well as in the southern provinces of Ghazni and Wardak. The reports could not be independently confirmed.

"People have revolted against the Taliban," said Saeed Hussain Anwari, a top Shia Muslim commander of the Northern Alliance.
He said anti-Taliban fighters had also seized the airport in Kandahar, the headquarters of the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. The Taliban have retreated into the mountains around Kandahar, but the city itself was still contested, Anwari said.
At least 200 Pashtun fighters mutinied in Kandahar, said a Taliban official, Mullah Najibullah, at the Pakistani border at Chaman. Bureau Report