Afghanistan's Taliban regime on Wednesday released eight foreign aid workers accused of spreading Christianity, even as the US-backed Northern Alliance appeared to be mopping up the militia and the Al Qaeda terrorist nework, said reports.
The eight people, held by the Taliban militia since last August for preaching Christianity, were freed Wednesday and were headed to Pakistan, AP cited a US official as saying.
A second US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the agency that the the eight, including two Americans, were freed as a result of military action, but would give no details.
The disclosure came after the son of Libyan leader Moammar Khadhafi said he was sure the eight would be released soon, added AP.
Seif El Islam Kadhafi, chairman of the Kadhafi Foundation for Charitable Organizations, has in the past played a mediating role in hostage situations involving Islamic groups.
REBELS TAKE COMMAND
Meanwhile, anti-Taliban forces swept across still more of Afghanistan on Wednesday, said reports.
Notable among the Taliban losses was Kandahar, a reputed stronghold of the militia. AFP quoted a senior Afghan envoy in neighboring Tajikistan as saying that "the people staged an uprising. Northern Alliance forces have taken control, there are no Taliban left in Kandahar."
Al Jazeera satellite channel reported that revolting tribesmen had taken Jalalabad in the eastern part of the country and driven the Taliban militia out of the city and the other areas.
Washington said US troops might push into the caves and mountains of southern Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden, according to Reuters.
The US blames bin Laden for the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and the Pentagon in which 4,500 were killed, and launched the war on Afghanistan to apprehend him and members of his Al Qaeda organization, who are hosted by the Taliban.
In a 23-page document released to Parliament today, Britain unveiled what it said was further evidence that bin Laden masterminded the Sept. 11 attacks, reported ABCNEWS Online.
TALIBAN CRUMBLES
With US special forces already operating in southern Afghanistan, the Pentagon said it was far too early to declare victory over the Taliban and bin Laden, said Reuters.
But all over the country Wednesday, there were signs that rebel forces were taking control and that the milita was on the run.
An anti-Taliban group seized control of the eastern city of Jalalabad, an area which housed Al Qaeda training camps, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said.
In the far north an opposition spokesman told Reuters that pro-Taliban Pakistani and Arab fighters had been evacuated by plane from the besieged enclave of Kunduz as the rebels closed in.
ABCNEWS reported revenge killings of Taliban soldiers across the country and in the northern Afghan city of rebel-controlled Mazar-e-Sharif, while the International Red Cross said hundreds of people had died and tons of aid supplies were looted.
Up to 23 Pashtun tribes in the south appeared to have risen up against the Taliban, added the news service, although it was unclear if they were responding to US appeals or taking advantage of the power vacuum.
For their part, the Taliban said bin Laden and their own supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar were both safe and in Afghanistan, according to AIP.
But large numbers of former Taliban soldiers have defected to the rebel side, according to reports, setting the stage for a possible capture of bin Laden.
Experts on Afghanistan told Reuters that the Taliban's collapse boosted US chances of hunting down bin Laden.
"The chances of him being betrayed, sold out or whatever are extremely high," Afghanistan expert Ahmed Rashid told the agency from the Pakistani city of Lahore - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
