[link|http://www.abc.net.au/news/2001/11/item20011110012326_1.htm|The Taliban admits it]

Excerpt:

Afghanistan's opposition Northern Alliance claims to have driven the Taliban from the key northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif and the Taliban has now confirmed the reports.



Mazar-e-Sharif has fallen and within just half-an-hour according to General Abdul Rashid Dostam, who entered the city from the south.

"In a short period of time we entered Mazar-e-Sharif and we are in Mazar-e-Sharif," the ethnic Uzbek general told CNN, adding that 90 soldiers of the ruling Taliban militia had been killed in the battle.

"Yes we have everything, including the airport. Mazar is very important for us," Mr Dostam said, adding that the Taliban appeared to have abandoned the city.

"In Mazar, the people from the Taliban who got shot are in hospital, but the rest of them who are healthy have all left," he said.

The Taliban has been reported now as confirming the retreat and saying that they are regrouping their forces outside the city.

General Dostam is one of three opposition commanders from three different ethnic factions who have been pushing towards the city with the help of heavy US air raids in recent days.

The Uzbek commander was in control of Afghanistan's fourth largest city before it fell to the Taliban in 1997.

The city controls vital supply routes and its loss would be a major blow to the Taliban's ability to defend northern Afghanistan.

General Dostam has said that his troops killed 500 Taliban in the last four days, with the remaining Taliban forces retreating east towards Samangan.