A breakthrough in the forging of a post-Taliban government in Afghanistan was reached yesterday with the Northern Alliance agreeing to multi-party talks with the UN in Germany next week.
News of the talks came as thousands of Taliban fighters, trapped in the northern Afghan enclave of Kunduz, are reported to be trying to negotiate a surrender as the net on Osama bin Laden continued to close.
The United States has offered a $25 million award for information leading to the capture of bin Laden or his al-Qaeda associates.
The UN envoy, Mr Francesc Vendrell, said yesterday he hoped the talks on the formation of a new government would start on Monday, but he would not say exactly where in Germany they would be held. Berlin has offered to host a conference and is seen as the likely location.
Mr Vendrell gave assurances that the country's Pashtun majority would be represented at the conference even though the Taliban, widely seen as representing the Pashtun, had practically ceased to exist as a political entity and has not been invited.
Leaders of the Northern Alliance, made up mainly of ethnic-minority Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras, insist they favour a broad-based government but that there was no place for their Taliban foes.
Meanwhile there were increased reports yesterday that Taliban in Kunduz are now seeking to end the fighting.
More than 10,000 Taliban fighters, including Pakistanis and Arabs linked to bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, are encircled by Northern Alliance troops.
Afghan Taliban commanders have said they are willing to surrender to the United Nations, but insist they will not give up the city to the Northern Alliance for fear of a massacre.
In nearby Taloqan, the Northern Alliance commander, Mr Mohammad Dawood, said face-to-face negotiations on a surrender were now under way and some Taliban fighters were already switching sides.
"About 1,000 local Taliban have already defected and thousands more want to defect, and many escaped Kunduz," he said.
The Northern Alliance warlord, Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum, is reported to have suspended ground assaults on Kunduz while the talks went on. However he has warned foreigners will not be given an amnesty.
The US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, said yesterday he was against any deal that would let the defenders of Kunduz escape.
As many as 1,600 US marines were preparing to join US-led special forces already on the ground hunting for bin Laden.
Washington has started broadcasting radio messages within Afghanistan calling on Afghans to help "drive out foreign terrorists" and offering the $25 million reward for information leading to the capture of bin Laden and his al-Qaeda associates.