Former Taliban Military Commander Maintains That They Have Enough Weapons To Defend Kandahar

Former Taliban field commander mullah Bismilla who was in charge of an ammunition depot guard in Kandahar stated that the Taliban defending Kandahar, the second largest city of Afghanistan, had enough ammunition and hardware and were prepared "to fight to the very utmost." According to him, Taliban possessed of "up to 500 tanks" there. Bismilla broke off with Afghan fundamentalists and in the beginning of November ran off to the Pakistani city of Quetta. According to him, "a lot of blood will be shed" in case the Northern Alliance wages its offensive against Kandahar. The former field commander stated that the city was defended by "several thousand" Taliban fanatics loyal to their spiritual leader mullah Mohammad Omar.