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The Americans aren't the only ones who would like to see suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and his thousands of militant Arab followers leave Afghanistan. So would many Afghans.

Relatively few Afghans are willing to talk about the Arab militants, and none -- even Taliban officials -- would agreed to be quoted by name. However, the suppressed antipathy between Afghans and the militants -- most but not all of whom are Arabs -- is palpable.

Many Afghans go out of their way to avoid contact with the Arabs, whom they consider hostile and overbearing.

One storekeeper on Kabul's Chicken Street said they worry when Arabs come into the shop.

The Taliban recently ordered foreigners to leave Afghanistan, but the order was enforced only for Westerners. The Taliban said that was because the safety of Westerners cannot be guaranteed if a U.S.-led international force launches an assault on Afghanistan.

Several Kabul residents -- some Taliban officials -- said the threat to Westerners isn't from Afghans or even Taliban troops. They said the real danger comes from the Arab "guests," as followers of bin Laden's Al-Qaeda movement are known.

According to Western military estimates, there are as many as 10,000 Islamic militants in Afghanistan, more than half from Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Algeria, Jordan and Egypt. The rest come from Pakistan, the breakaway republic of Chechnya and Uzbekistan.

Within the Taliban movement itself there is a growing split over the presence of Arab militants in Afghanistan. The chasm is likely to widen if the United States launches punishing retaliatory strikes against Afghanistan to flush out bin Laden.

One senior Taliban leader who wants his movement to break ties with the Arabs said anyone who makes public statements against them will be put in jail. He said the Arabs' influence is strong on the government, but not on the nation or on the Afghan people.

Despite public resentment, the Arabs enjoy the support of Taliban leaders, in part because the Taliban need the militants to help fight opposition forces in the north.

After 23 years of civil conflict, many Afghans have grown weary of war. As a result, the Arabs have become the backbone of the Taliban fighting force.

The influence of the Arabs, particularly the Saudis and their predominantly Wahabbist sect, was evident in March when the Taliban blew up the stone statues of Buddha, hewn from the cliffside of Bamiyan in the third and fifth centuries.

The Wahabbists are especially keen on enforcing Quranic prohibitions against creating human images -- which they consider idolatry.

The senior Taliban official said his idea is to rebuild Afghanistan, but the idea of the Arabs is to destroy it and he believes the Afghan people will eventually rise up again them.