After a sweeping victory in northern Afghanistan, the US and its Afghan allies are now positioned to wage a more targeted campaign to root out Taliban leaders and Osama bin Laden in the south.
The shrinking battlefield offers several advantages for the US and the Northern Alliance, which seized the capital Kabul on Tuesday as the Taliban evacuated and retreated to their strongholds in the south.
First, the Taliban are now on the defensive and face the prospect of operating as a guerrilla force on the run, hiding in the hills, rather than as a government controlling the major cities.
Even in their spiritual capital of Kandahar, the Taliban forces were under attack at the airport south of the city, according to several witness accounts.
"The Taliban had wanted to make a tactical retreat from the north, but they didn't want to give up Kabul," said Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist who wrote the best-selling book, "Taliban."
"It turned into a pell-mell rout because the Taliban completely underestimated the impact of the US bombing and the speed of the advance by the northern alliance," he said.
In a radio address, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, urged his followers "to organize themselves and resist the enemy.
"I am in Kandahar and haven't gone anywhere," he said. But Omar -- and his guest bin Laden -- are more boxed in than ever before.
Finding the pair is expected to remain a challenge. But with reports of fighting in the south, they may face an increasingly serious threat from ethnic Pashtuns, who have been the bedrock of Taliban support.
Also, the American bombing campaign has been restricted by the number of planes in the region, and by efforts to avoid civilian casualties.
With the Taliban now confined to the south, the US warplanes can concentrate more firepower on a smaller area. And with the Taliban chased out of most cities, the American planes will presumably be carrying out fewer missions over urban areas.
The US military has often complained that Taliban troops were hiding their weapons and vehicles in or near schools, hospitals and mosques. The Taliban no longer have that option, except in a few remaining places.
Finding Taliban targets in the rugged mountains and caves will remain a challenge, but US pilots may not have to contend with civilians in their target areas.
Also, Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis could begin to ease if aid groups can move in food over major routes that are now opening up.
In its first major triumph, the Northern Alliance took over the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which is linked by a highway to nearby Uzbekistan. Large deliveries of food stockpiled in Uzbekistan could soon begin to reach Mazar-i-Sharif and other parts of the north.
With the capture of Kabul and apparent advances in the east, the Northern Alliance could soon be in control of the main land route to neighboring Pakistan. That would also allow for aid deliveries and trade that's vital to the country.
Improved food supplies, combined with fewer bombs falling in and around cities, could go a long way toward easing the most pressing fears of Afghan civilians.
But the US and the Northern Alliance still face a number of problems. Perhaps one of the most pressing questions is: who will rule Kabul?
Without a functioning government, Afghanistan again risks collapsing into anarchy. Yet international efforts to form a broad-based government, including the multiple ethnic groups, have made no real progress.
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