The Taliban

22 Pages 5380 Words

the U.S. Central
Command chief, General Tommy Franks, said Friday. A Kandahar
eyewitness told Time that early in the week Omar was spotted
heading into the hills around Argandhab, west of Kandahar, with
five bodyguards. He was said to be riding on the back of a
motorcycle, with his henchmen around him. On Friday Karzai told
Time, "I consider Omar a criminal, an associate of terrorists. He's a
fugitive from the law."

The allies have long believed that Omar and bin Laden would
choose to go down in a blaze of martyrdom. But with the storm
gathering around them, both men appeared intent on survival.
Perhaps their only way out was a dangerous route through the
snowy passes of the White Mountains and into one of the border
towns of Pakistan. Once there, they could receive refuge from
sympathetic Pashtun tribesmen and be absorbed into the
...