U.S. Claims Taliban Rift Helps Karzai

[neomonkey]

KABUL, Afghanistan - Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has fallen out with some of his lieutenants, who blame him for the rebels' failure to disrupt the landmark Afghan presidential election, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

Election officials, meanwhile, said U.S.-backed interim President Hamid Karzai could all but seal a victory Thursday as vote counting proceeds from an Oct. 9 ballot that came off largely peacefully.

U.S. military spokesman, Maj. Scott Nelson, said intelligence reports from Afghanistan (news - web sites) and neighboring Pakistan indicated the Taliban's failure to mount major attacks during the election had demoralized the rebels




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