Show Originally Aired: 11/13/2001 CALL 1 800-423-TALK
Kabul Falls
Afghans celebrate arrival of Northern Alliance troops, Kabul, Afghanistan (AP Image) Email to friend
Kabul has fallen. Before dawn this morning, Taliban fighters fled south from the Afghan capital and the next stage has begun. As ever though, what happens now and what happens next is clouded in the confusion, dust and conflicting and contradictory reports of a war scene in flux. There are reports of executions and looting, not just in Kabul but in other cities like Mazar I Sharif, as soldiers opposed to the Taliban rush in to claim their prizes. There are also reports of celebration. Men shaving the beards they'd been ordered to wear, women peeking out from underneath the burqas. But Kabul is a city that has known little but defeat and conquest for the past 22 years, and what happens now, and in the hours and days ahead will be crucial in determining if Afghanistan can break its endless cycle of combat.
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