Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar urged his scattered fighters today to regroup and fight, to obey the commanders and not to desert, the private Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said.
"I order you to completely obey your commanders...," AIP quoted Omar as saying to his troops in an address in the Pashto language over their wireless sets.
"You should regroup yourselves, resist and fight," he added encouraging Taliban fighters across Afghanistan who have retreated rapidly in the face of the opposition Northern Alliance blitzkrieg that has captured vast swathes of north and west Afghanistan.
Omar said he was speaking from the southern stronghold of Kandahar.