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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 15, 2001

Who Holds Kandahar Disputed

Taliban supporters vowed Wednesday to defend the religious militia's southern stronghold of Kandahar, but U.S. officials told CNN that anti-Taliban forces had gained control of the city's airport.


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Taliban supporters vowed Wednesday to defend the religious militia's southern stronghold of Kandahar, but U.S. officials told CNN that anti-Taliban forces had gained control of the city's airport.

The U.S. sources said there was street fighting in Kandahar and that the Taliban still control some neighborhoods. Still, Taliban fighters were fleeing in droves, the sources said.

However, a Taliban spokesman told the Arabic language television network Al-Jazeera that the Taliban still controlled the city and the Pentagon said it was not clear whether opposition forces controlled the airport.

And sources contacted by CNN in Kandahar reported no gunfire could be heard, the bazaars were open and people were moving about the street. They said the city and the airport appeared still to be in the hands of the Taliban.

The forces fighting in Kandahar are ethnic Pashtuns opposed to the Taliban, according to the U.S. sources. The Taliban are also mainly Pashtun. The sources also told CNN that anti-Taliban forces had taken control of the eastern city of Jalalabad, near the Afghan-Pakistani border.

A Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday said that it was unclear whether opposition forces have taken control of the airfield, but said the Pentagon has received reports of fighting there.

"It's not clear to us that (opposition forces) in fact have taken the airport at Kandahar," said U.S. Navy Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem at a Pentagon press briefing.

Stufflebeem also said numerous opposition forces are rising up against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan and that the Northern Alliance is continuing to make gains south of Kabul. He said it was unclear who the opposition was in the south, saying there are multiple Pashtun tribes who may be opposed to the Taliban




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