Kabul Free For All

What’s the situation like in Kabul now that the evil-but-law-enforcing Taliban social experiment has been abandoned by the populace following US pressure and Northern Alliance invasion?
Eleven-year-old boys toting rocket launchers bigger than themselves milled about the central square, playing soccer, flying kites and shooting their AKs into the air … Half of the male population — the heavily armed half — is cruising the streets looking for people to rob. And the drug trade has made a remarkable overnight comeback; pure opium paste is selling briskly

The confused situation, with several dozen Northern Alliance gangs now feuding for supremacy and rogue Taliban-aligned groups operating low-intensity guerilla warfare, has led the BBC and Reuters to quit Afghanistan after a number of journalists have been murdered by anonymous assassins.