Stardate 20011113.0716 (On Screen): If there's any question of the Taliban retreat being deliberate, this should quash it. Mullah Omar has broadcast a message by shortwave telling his troops to stop running and to start obeying orders again.
According to the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) news agency, Mullah Omar told his troops: "I order you to obey your commanders completely. Do not move here and there ... regroup yourselves.
"Put up resistance and fight," he said.
That is not something that a well-ordered army needs to hear, but it's definitely the kind of thing that the panicked commander of a routing army will say. It is clear that the situation is dire in the opinion of Mullah Omar himself. Otherwise he would not resort to such desperate measures. (discuss)
