PENTAGON — Pentagon officials say the Taliban can just have the city of Ghazni in Afghanistan since the U.S. military didn't really want it anyway, sources confirmed today.

Days after the Taliban launched a major assault on the city of about 280,000 people, senior defense officials downplayed its significance in the overall South Asia Strategy. Although the Taliban was able to mass about 1,000 fighters and took over large portions of the city, American officials stressed it wasn't really that important since it was 100 miles from the capital of Kabul.

"If the Taliban got in their trucks and started rolling up to Kabul, it would take them over an hour to get there," said Gen. John Nicholson, the commanding general of NATO forces in Afghanistan.