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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 12, 2001
NOWABAD, Afghanistan -- After four nights of U.S. bombardments in Kabul, refugees from the city said Thursday that Taliban militants have practically disappeared from the streets of the capital but that normal daytime routines continued.
The refugees, who escaped by foot over mountains to territory held by the opposition United Front, said that while the barrage of American missiles and bombs was frightening, the airstrikes appeared to be largely confined to military targets and few civilians were injured.
"They're bombing the enemy and it's my enemy, too," said Kandagho, 25, a driver who like many Afghans only uses one name. "The United States is doing the right thing."
A steady flow of refugees trickled out of Kabul on Thursday, providing a glimpse of a city beginning to unravel under the steady blow of bombs.
Though unnerved by the bombing, nearly all the refugees expressed support for the U.S. government's attacks against the militant Islamic Taliban movement that harbors terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden. Their view may be representative only of the small number of Afghans seeking refuge in territory controlled by the opposition rather than the larger population of Afghans who have fled to other countries or stayed behind.
And in Chaman, Pakistan, the mood was different. Many Afghans crossing into Pakistan from Kandahar and other cities seemed to be gearing up for a war that has never been declared against them.
They are burning the humanitarian food aid dropped by U.S. forces. Men are encouraging wives and daughters to train for battle. And many Afghans appear to relish the thought of entering a ground war with U.S. troops, whom they hope to defeat as they did Soviet Union and British armies in the past.
"Please, America is invited to come inside with its land force. If they are prepared to cut our heads, we are ready for it," said Jamal u Din, 32, who ran his finger across his throat to emphasize the point. "For the land forces, we have made our females prepared for fight. They are sitting with Kalashnikovs. Our big missile is the name of God. When we take the name of God, nothing can stop us."
The United States' humanitarian gesture of dropping more than 100,000 daily rations inside Afghanistan's needy areas may be backfiring, according to some reports by Afghans.
"Whatever aid America has given us through air we just set it on fire," said Mujahid Habid Ullah, 24, who had just arrived in Chaman from Kandahar. "The Taliban collected them all and set them on fire. We don't need aid. Leave us -- we want to grow our own wheat. We want to have our own food."
Most Afghans interviewed said that as many half of the population of Kandahar had fled. Still, most shops remained open during the day, they said. Many Afghans complained of the suffering of their friends, neighbors and relatives, who are trying to survive outside the city.
Although the stories of casualties were widespread, no one interviewed had firsthand knowledge of anyone who was killed. What seemed certain, however, was that the bombings had unnerved the population of the Taliban's spiritual capital and left the city's defenders frustrated.
"In Kandahar, there is chaos and everyone is looking out for himself," said Wakil Khan, 25, as he strode across the frontier with relief.
Khan, a 25-year-old from Kandahar, was coated nearly white with dust from his journey to the border. He said he had heard that as many as 200 people were injured by the overnight raids.
Conditions in the city had not changed much because of the bombings, he said. "The food and water is as bad as ever."
Although Pakistani officials have not declared the border open, a steady flow of Afghans crossed over during a visit by a group of journalists Thursday afternoon. They were riding motorbikes, crowding onto the backs of trucks, driving donkey carts and trundling on foot.
It was hard to get a fix on the exact number of arrivals. A guard at the post estimated that about 300 Afghan families a day had been admitted at Chaman since the bombing campaign started Sunday and that the flow had increased Thursday after a night of heavy attacks on Kandahar, 60 miles northwest of Chaman.
At Nowabad, Suraya, a 26-year-old Kabul woman whose burqa billowed wildly in the powerful gusts, said she decided to leave with her brother, sister-in-law and their seven children after bombers destroyed a radar installation near her home.
"We lived with the Taliban, but we had a very bad life there," she said. She had at first held off taking the arduous overland trip because she thought the Taliban might reopen one of the roads out of Kabul to the north. Finally, she and her family set off on foot to hike 15 miles down a dusty road to Jabal Saraj. They carried with them a bundle of clothing, a brass teapot and a thermos jug.
"We want to finish this conflict," she said of Afghanistan's 23-year civil war. "We are tired."
She and other refugees said the Taliban militiamen, who took Kabul in 1996, had virtually disappeared from the city in recent days as bombs struck military and government installations, such as the radio station and the television station.
"There are very few Taliban left," said Ahmed, 37, who worked in the Foreign Ministry until the Taliban fired him. "Most of them have gone into hiding or were taken out to the front lines."
Almost all of the refugees who made it into Northern Alliance territory were ethnic Tajiks, the second-largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. Ethnic Pashtuns, the nation's largest ethnic group with ties to the Pakistan government, make up the leadership of the Taliban.
Most Afghans in Nowabad said they resent Pakistan's efforts to control Afghanistan's government. "The problem is that the foreigners (Pakistanis) have come to occupy Afghanistan," said Kandagho. "They take over the good buildings and they forced out good working people."
His neighbor, Mirzada, was one of a dozen packed in a van to escape the Taliban. "The Americans are wrong to be bombing," he said. "They should be bombing Pakistan."
-- Information from Knight Ridder Newspapers, the Baltimore Sun and Los Angeles Times was used in this report.