Anti-Taliban Afghan fighters advance on Kandahar

Anti-Taliban Afghan tribesmen, supported by US bomb attacks, are reportedly advancing on the southern city of Kandahar today in an effort to rout the Taliban from its last remaining stronghold.

US officials have said local Pashtun tribal leaders are trying to convince Taliban leaders to surrender, but the US appears opposed to such a move.

Last night, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the Taliban’s spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, will not be given amnesty or safe passage in return for a surrender.

The Taliban movement was born in Kandahar and most reports suggest that Mullah Omar is still in the city with his fighters.

Meanwhile, UN-sponsored talks on a future Afghan government appear deadlocked following a walk-out by a leading Pashtun delegate yesterday.

Abdul Qadir, the Governor of Namgahar province, complained that the Pashtun tribes, who make up an estimated 50% of Afghanistan’s population, are underrepresented at the talks.

Many Pashtun leaders were not invited to take part because the Taliban drew its support from the Pashtun majority.

A rift has also developed between the Northern Alliance delegates at the talks in Germany and their leader in Afghanistan, Burhanuddin Rabbani.

The delegates in Bonn have accepted the need for UN peacekeepers to police the country, but Mr Rabbani is strongly opposed to any such move, saying his forces have brought stability.

However, reports on the ground strongly contradict this assertion, with looters and bandits apparently operating with impunity in many areas.