Elements within Afghanistan's new government yesterday challenged US authority for the first time by demanding a stop to bombing raids, saying they were no longer needed to hunt Osama bin Laden.
An Afghan defence ministry spokesman, Mr Mohammad Habeel, suggested the bombing, blamed for killing dozens of civilians in the past week, should end within days.
"Without the approval of local commanders and the defence ministry, America cannot bomb Afghanistan at will," he said. Bin Laden was in Pakistan and his al-Qaeda network almost destroyed, making the air campaign redundant, he said.
"Their remaining forces are few in number and may be annihilated in a maximum of three days, and once this is done there is no need for the continuation of the bombing. We demand America stop its bombing of Afghanistan after this goal is achieved," said Mr Habeel.
The US diplomatic mission in Kabul shrugged off the challenge as a non-event, saying it had received no request to stop bombing. "I am unaware of any communication by the Afghan interim government conveying that viewpoint," said a spokesperson.
The Pentagon declined to rule out air strikes and said nothing would stop it rooting out the group blamed for the September 11th attacks. "We will do what it takes to achieve what it is we're trying to achieve," said a spokesperson.
So-called thermobaric bombs are due to be dropped in the Tora Bora cave complex in eastern Afghanistan to suffocate any al-Qaeda remnants, and possibly bin Laden himself if he is there.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Mr Abdul Sattar, said he could not rule out the possibility that Osama bin Laden was in Pakistan. "We have a large number of troops on the border with Afghanistan at this time. If he came to any town or city he could be recognised and turned in," he said.
US President George Bush, admitted yesterday he did not know where bin Laden was.
But he insisted bin Laden would not escape. "He is not escaping us. This is a guy who three months ago was in control of a country. Now he's maybe in control of a cave."
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network has been investigating the use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and conducted preliminary chemical weapons tests on animals, the Times of London reports today. Citing a range of documents uncovered in abandoned al-Qaeda homes in Kabul last month, the paper said that the network was looking into how to produce botulin poison in batches strong enough to kill 2,000 people.