Northern Alliance forces took control of the presidential palace and other major public buildings in Kabul Tuesday, including the state Bakhtar news agency, Iran's state television reported. Citing its correspondent from Kabul, it said the opposition forces are also assuring the security of foreign embassies in the capital.
All government-run buildings, the news agency, as well as all diplomatic mission sites, are being controlled by the opposition forces, the correspondent was quoted as saying.
Since former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani was ousted by the hard-line Taliban militia in 1996, the presidential palace in Kabul has not been the seat of power in Afghanistan. Instead, Mullah Mohammad Omar, supreme leader of Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, is seated in Kandahar, a southern city still controlled by the Taliban.
Earlier Tuesday, a senior opposition Northern Alliance leader announced that Taliban militia forces had completely pulled out of Kabul.
“Everything is okay here”, said Younis Qanooni, a senior aide to Rabbani.
“There are no Taliban left”, Qanooni said. He declined to comment when asked whether Northern Alliance forces were pursuing Taliban militiamen, who pulled out of Kabul overnight and headed towards Kandahar.
Bureau Report