The US has stressed that the Taliban's retreat from northern Afghanistan does not mean the hunt for Osama bin Laden is almost over.
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Osama bin Laden
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Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld said that although US officials do not know where bin Laden is hiding, the capture of Kabul gave them the potential for gaining information on the movements of bin Laden and other leaders of al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
US forces accompanying Northern Alliance commanders are searching for Taliban items like computer discs, maps and documents that might contain useful intelligence.
Mr Rumsfeld raised the possibility that leaders of the Taliban or al-Qaeda might flee across the Afghan border into Iran to the west or Pakistan to the south and east.
"They can flee and reorganise in the south. They can flee and melt into the countryside, or they can defect. If they reorganise in the south, we're going to go get them. If they go to ground, we will, as the president said, root them out. And if they decide to flee, I doubt that they'll find peace wherever they select."
Mr Rumsfeld said a very small number of US forces are in Kabul to advise and counsel triumphant opposition forces. US troops are also operating against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.