Taliban abandons Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghans brought their radios out of hiding and played music in the streets, savoring the end of five years of harsh Taliban rule as the northern alliance marched triumphantly into Afghanistan's capital Tuesday. Diplomats sought U.N. help in fashioning a government for the shattered country. \nAmerican jets still prowled the skies in the south, seeking out convoys of Taliban fighters retreating toward Kandahar, the Islamic militants' last major stronghold. Strikes also targeted caves where members of terror suspect Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network were thought to be hiding \nAlliance troops celebrated the capture of the prize they had been fighting for since they were driven out by the Taliban in 1996. A small number of U.S. troops were on hand to advise them. \nThe dizzying cascade of events in Afghanistan turned the opposition into the country's chief power overnight -- and brought to the forefront the issue of ensuring that it shares power. The United States and its allies want a government that includes groups the ethnic minorities that make up the alliance and the Pashtuns, the country's largest ethnic group.\nThe alliance leaders said they had deployed 3,000 security troops across Kabul to bring order -- not to occupy it -- and insisted they were committed to a broad-based goverment. \nThe alliance foreign minister, Abdullah, invited all Afghan factions -- except the Taliban -- to come to Kabul to negotiate on the country's future. The top U.N. envoy for Afghanistan outlined a plan for a two-year transitional government with a multinational security force. \nAbdullah's words were reiterated by Burhanuddin Rabbani, the alliance leader and Afghanistan's deposed president, who also said he expected to return to Kabul on Wednesday. \nRapid Advance\nThe forces allied against the Taliban made swift gains from Nov. 9, when they captured Mazar-e-Sharif to Nov. 13 when they took the Afghan capital, Kabul. \n"There is no room for the Taliban" in any political settlement in Afghanistan, Rabbani told Qatari-based Al-Jazeera television. \nIn Washington, President Bush said the United States was working with the alliance to ensure they "respect the human rights of the people they are liberating" and recognize "that a future government must include a representative from all of Afghanistan."\nDefense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said a "small number" of U.S. troops were in Kabul, advising the alliance. He told journalists at the Pentagon that the troops were not enough to police the city or prevent retaliation by the opposition. \nBush said there was "great progres"' in the campaign launched Oct. 7 to uproot al Qaeda and punish the Taliban for harboring bin Laden, the chief suspect in the September terror attacks on the United States. \nWar in Afghanistan \nIn the streets of Kabul, thousands of people celebrated, honking car horns and ringing bicycle bells. They flouted the strict version of Islamic law imposed by the Taliban that regulated almost every aspect of life, down to banning shaving and music. \n"I used to play this at home, but very quietly and then I would check to see if anyone was outside," Abdul Rehman said as he turned up the volume on his cassette tape recorder blaring out the music of his favorite Afghan folk singer.\nZul Gai, the owner of a barber shop lined up with men looking to lose their beards, smiled broadly. "This has been my best business day in many long years," he said. \nMost women, however, were too cautious to shed their all-encompassing burqas, unsure what the new rules would be. \nHundreds of northern alliance troops hunted down lingering Taliban and foreigners who came to Afghanistan to join al Qaeda. At least 11 Arabs and Pakistanis were slain and their bodies mutilated. \nAlliance fighters roamed the streets in taxis, pickup trucks and cars, brandishing Kalashnikov rifles and grenade launchers. Troops set up roadblocks in neighborhoods where Arabs and Pakistanis lived. \nFive Pakistanis, who were firing randomly from trees in a public park, were killed by alliance soldiers. A Red Cross official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the bodies were in pieces when volunteers removed them for burial. Four Arabs died when their pickup truck was blasted by a rocket. Their charred bodies were dragged from their vehicle by residents who kicked and poked at them. Two other Arabs were killed outside a military base near the U.N. guest house.