Taleban officials fleeing Afghanistan
03 October
ISLAMABAD -- A large number of prominent Taleban officials have already fled Afghanistan, fearing reprisals should the Islamic militia be toppled from power, according to the Far Eastern Economic Review.
An Islamic judge as well as senior officials in the militia's feared religious police have fled the Taleban stronghold of Kandahar, together with the city's mayor, the weekly magazine cited Afghan sources in the Pakistani city of Quetta as saying.
Most of them have already arrived in Quetta, the Review reported in its latest issue, while some Taleban ministers have escaped to the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar.
The same sources said the religious police had almost disappeared from the streets of the Afghan capital Kabul, apparently for fear of retribution from a civilian population they have 'harassed, jailed and beaten' for the past five years.
In western Afghanistan, around the city of Herat, Taleban troops have deserted checkpoints along the border with Iran.
'In the west, the Taleban have all but disappeared,' the Review quoted Patricia Grossman, an American human rights advocate who is in contact with Afghans inside the country, as saying. -- AFP |
