An 11 nation advance team for Afghanistan’s international peacekeeping force has arrived in Kabul to assess what needs to be done before the arrival of foreign troops joining the British forces already providing security there.

American intelligence officials have translated a 100-page document they describe as Osama bin Laden’s top deputy’s ‘‘last will’’, it emerged today.

British troops played a ‘‘very significant’’ part in the rapid advance of the Northern Alliance forces across Northern Afghanistan, Geoff Hoon, Defence Secretary, said today.

Taliban forces appeared to be fleeing Kabul tonight as the opposition Northern Alliance said their troops had pushed to the gates of the Afghan capital.