Residents of Mazar-e-Sharif celebrate Taliban defeat

Residents of Mazar-e-Sharif sacrificed sheep to celebrate the defeat of the Taliban.

The Afghan city's new rulers vowed that women there will no longer have to be veiled.

Fighters of the opposition Northern Alliance drove Taliban forces out of the city on Friday.

It is a key victory that leaves the alliance in control of the areas bordering Uzbekistan and is likely to open up supply routes to the poorly equipped fighters.

"The general mood of the people is very good," said Mohammed Hasham Saad, the top alliance official in Uzbekistan.

Mr Saad says that after Taliban fighters fled, people gathered to sacrifice sheep and pray in the blue-tiled mosque that dominates the centre of the city.

Mr Saad says the alliance's first priority will be to restore electricity and gas in the city.

He says the city was largely untouched by the fighting and there is little damage to buildings.

The Taliban forces women to veil themselves, but Mr Saad says females in Mazar-e-Sharif will be no longer have to obey this rule.

The alliance plans to reopen the University of Mazar-e-Sharif "for girls and boys", he said. Girls were banned from schools under the Taliban. The alliance is also inviting foreign doctors to the city.