On The Scene: Kunduz Freed

CBS News' Byron Pitts Reports From Kunduz, Afghanistan

(CBS)  These were the images the United Front wanted the world to see — hugs and handshakes, a thumbs-up from a people set free. CBS News was one of the first western news organizations allowed into Kunduz after the United Front had kept journalists out for hours — claiming it was for safety.

But, reports CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts, a witness says Kunduz at first light showed Taliban soldiers executed in the street. Their big toes had been tied together so they could not run.

There are reports that more than a hundred foreign Taliban soldiers were executed. Thousands more escaped to areas south and west of Kunduz.

Many here call it payback — revenge for atrocities leveled on civilians and United Front soldiers by the Taliban.

"They were cruel," said one villager. "Men and women beaten."

When United Fronted soldiers were taken prisoner, they were allegedly tossed in holes with hand grenades dumped on their heads.

In downtown Kunduz, a United Front flag flies overhead. Residents are tasting freedom without the Taliban for the first time in more than a year. Kunduz was the last city in Northern Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban. It took 12-straight days of bombings and bloodshed to liberate it.

There is clear evidence that U.S. warplanes hit many of their targets with deadly precision. And there is evidence too of lives returning to normal.

A CBS News interpreter reunited with his wife and two children for the first time since the Taliban took Kunduz.

"Now I am very happy to see them. Yes? It is a chance! A chance," he said.

A chance at a new beginning for many here, and a chance to settle old scores for others.