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Taliban Officially Declare Kandahar Capital
KANDAHAR, Nov 14 (IslamOnline) - Afghanistan's Taliban militia has officially declared its stronghold Kandahar as the country's new capital, vowing it would defend the city till the last soldier dies.
A decision to this effect was taken Wednesday in a high-level meeting held with Taliban's Supreme Leader Mullah Mohammed Omer in Kandahar. The governor of Kandahar, Mualvi Mohammed Hassan, Kandahar Corps Commander, Mullah Akhtar Usmani, Defense Minister Mullah Obaidullah and senior ministers Tayyeb Agha, Jalaluddin Haqqani and others attended the meeting.
Even before the fall of Kabul to the Northern Alliance, Kandahar was considered the de-facto capital of Afghanistan, where Mullah Omer and top Taliban leaders resided.
Kandahar Governor Maulvi Hassan told IslamOnline that the meeting delineated a fresh strategy aimed at defending the southern provinces of the war-ravaged country including Kandahar and Rozgan.
"All necessary measures have been taken to defend Kandahar and 12 other southern provinces," said Maulvi Hassan. "[The] Taliban have gathered their total strength to defend Kandahar."
He denied reports that supporters of former Afghan commanders Hamid Karzai and Gul Agha had taken over Kandahar airport, claiming that, "the airport is still under Taliban control."
A few hundred supporters of Hamid Karzai and Gul Agha did try to take over the airport, but Taliban forces successfully defended the area, he claimed.
Hassan contended that the Taliban had also arrested some 30 fighters from Baba Sahib area while defending the airport.
Meanwhile, mixed reports are trickling in concerning Nangarhar, Logar, Khost and Kunar provinces to the effect that Maulvi Yunus Khalis, a former chief of his Hizb-e-Islami faction, had taken over the control of Nangarhar province from the Taliban and asked the militia's fighters to leave the province.
However, Maulvi Hassan said that Yunus Khalis's forces had taken over the control of a few areas of Nangarhar province, including a portion of Jalalabad.
"These areas were not conquered by opposition forces, but they captured those areas vacated by Taliban as a war strategy," Hassan claimed.
According to other reports, supporters of Mutiullah, a former commander, had taken over Kunar province, with Mutiullah appointed the new governor.
Similarly, Logar and Khost provinces are also reported to have fallen to local commanders, according to unconfirmed reports.
Yunus Khalis and Mutiullah are not considered Northern Alliance supporters. They have, according to reports, warned Alliance forces not to enter their respective provinces.
Maulvi Hassan also claimed that heavy fighting was continuing in the northern Mazar-e-Sharif city, where "various areas have been re-captured by Taliban forces."
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