Late Monday, dozens of Taliban vehicles were leaving Kabul in haste on the main highway leading westwards and then south toward Kandahar. Cars and battered Japanese pickups packed with Taliban with their belongings wrapped in sheets were seen leaving the city. In Islamabad, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the sole foreign envoy of the Taliban, denied the militia was withdrawing from Kabul. ``This news is false and baseless that the Taliban are leaving Kabul,'' the Taliban ambassador stated. ``We have decided to defend Kabul.'' |