Mohammad Islak, a Pashtun soldier loyal to Hamid Karzai, the new leader of Afghanistan's interim administration, enters through a blown out wall into Mullah Omar's courtyard at residence near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on December 18, 2001. Mohammed Omar, the mullah who led the Taliban to its downfall, is believed to be holed up with hundreds of fighters in south-central Afghanistan. —REUTERS