Even chaos is a gift, when it follows a five-year curse. In the Afghan capital of Kabul, as in other cities suddenly set free from the Taliban's medieval rule, the streets smelled of blood and joy. Taliban warriors who had promised a fight to the death disappeared in the middle of the night like a long bad dream, and by morning the people were throwing flowers at the tanks as Northern Alliance commanders rode victorious into town. There were summary executions. Bodies of the Taliban's Arab and Pakistani fighters were branded with the mark of contempt reserved for mercenaries: Afghan bills were stuffed up their noses or into their head wounds. Wounded fighters were cornered by mobs, left in the streets. Yet despite the scattered fire fights, the fear of a power vacuum and the threat of renewed civil war, veterans of Afghanistan's endless years of carnage called last week's stunning reversal of fortunes the least bloody transition of power in memory. "I knew we'd beat the Talibs," said a grinning commander of an armored unit, "but I never thought it'd be this easy."
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