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Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 14, 2001

The Fall of Kabul

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.

American 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-Qaida network were thought to be hiding

Alliance 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.

The 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.

The 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. (Hamilton Spectator)