US, Afghan allies at odds over fate of Taliban leader

Tensions emerged yesterday between US war aims and those of its Afghan allies as the Taliban prepared to hand over their final major stronghold today, the city of Kandahar.

Public disagreements surfaced over the fate of the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, following an agreement between the Taliban and the chairman of Afghanistan's new interim government, Mr Hamid Karzai, over the peaceful surrender of the city, The agreement appears to allow Omar to go free if he renounces terrorism. His whereabouts are unknown.

Mr Karzai's difficulties were compounded when two key opposition figures also called into question the composition of the interim government. The UN Security Council, however, unanimously endorsed the Bonn agreement and called on all Afghan groups to implement it in full.

A vote on the resolution, which is legally binding, was delayed because the US sought to include a reference to an international force providing security, initially in the capital Kabul, diplomats said. A resolution authorising such a force is expected to be adopted later this month.

On the ground, opposition forces made significant gains with the capture of a strategically important airport to the south-east of Kandahar by tribesmen loyal to Pashtun commander, Mr Gul Agha. Troops were closing in on Kandahar from north and south.

In the north-east, troops commanded by the security chief of Jalalabad, warlord Mr Hazrat Ali, backed by heavy US bombing, were said to have taken up to half the cave complexes around Tora Bora in the face of stiff resistance.

US discomfort over any deal that would allow Mullah Omar to go free was made plain by the Secretary of Defence, Mr Donald Rumsfeld. Asked about reports of a deal, Mr Rumsfeld said the US has made clear to opposition forces "our very strong view on this".

"Our co-operation and assistance with those people would clearly take a turn south if something were to be done in respect to the senior people in that situation that is inconsistent with what I have said," he warned.

"To the extent that our goals are frustrated and opposed, we would prefer to work with other people," Mr Rumsfeld said. The message from the White House was the same. "The President believes very strongly that those who harbour terrorists need to be brought to justice," the President's spokesman, Mr Ari Fleischer, said.

But Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban's former envoy to Pakistan, referring to Mullah Omar, told reporters "his life will be saved and he will be allowed to live with dignity. He is a mujahid (holy warrior), he has worked for the people of Afghanistan and he is not guilty. Both sides, the Taliban and Karzai, agreed to the surrender of Kandahar for the welfare of the people to decrease the casualties to life and to protect the dignity of the people," he said.

"Tomorrow [Friday] the Taliban will start surrendering their weapons to Mullah Naqibullah, a famous commander. He will be in Kandahar tomorrow," Mullah Zaeef said. The Uzbek warlord, Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum, whose troops dominate much of the north around Mazar-e-Sharif, said he would boycott the new government because his Junbish-i-Milli faction was not fairly represented under the accord signed in Bonn on Wednesday.

The Pashtun spiritual leader, Mr Sayed Ahmad Gailani, whose Pakistan-based faction of exiles took part in the Bonn talks, also criticised the deal as "unbalanced".

Frank Millar, London Editor, adds: The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, claimed "total vindication" for the international coalition last night as he anticipated the collapse of the Taliban regime.

"Think back three months and you had a regime in Afghanistan that was one of the most brutal and repressive anywhere ... That regime is effectively now disintegrated," said Mr Blair.