Was [the fall of Mazar-e-Sharif] the turning point that it appears to be now?
You mean did it appear as decisive at the time it happened? It was not quite as decisive. It was clearly a major turning point by itself, because it meant that we could establish a link up with the Northern Alliance even in bad weather, that we’d be able to fight through the winter. By itself, it was hugely important, psychologically. Obviously the impact went way beyond Mazar-e-Sharif. I do think psychological impacts are not just what happened in Mazar, but obviously it conveyed a message about what American air power was doing. I think it probably also piled on confusion that our attack on Kandahar probably had on the Taliban command and control. So I suspect if you could get inside what was happening on their side, you would see that it was it really just fed the chaos and confusion in the command and control. The result was that the northeastern part of the country crumbled. Taliban control there crumbled rather quickly. Within days, they left Kabul empty. That’s right, even faste
