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Bush: Opposition shouldn't take Kabul
By RON FOURNIER
AP White House Correspondent
11/10/01
NEW YORK — President Bush said Saturday he wants northern alliance forces battling the Tablian regime in Afghanistan to steer clear of the capital city of Kabul, part of an effort to assure that power is eventually shared among the various tribes of the country.
"We will encourage our friends to head south ... but not into the city of Kabul itself,'' Bush said at a news conference one day after northern alliance forces claimed the strategic city of Mazar-e-sharif about 200 miles from the Afghan capital.
Bush made his comments at a news conference with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who swiftly agreed that the northern alliance must not move into Kabul. He said if they do, "we'll see the same atrocities committed'' as after the Soviets left Afghanistan more than a decade ago.
Bush said he didn't know whether terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden has nuclear weapons, as he claimed in a recent interview with a Pakistani journalist. "The only thing I know for certain about him is he's evil'' and that is "all the more reason to pursue him diligently.''