Afghan deal is struck

A new government for Afghanistan is expected to be agreed today at talks between Afghan leaders in Bonn. This should trigger the release of billions of dollars for the country that has been at war for the past 25 years or more.

On the ground US and local Pashtun tribal armies are preparing for a big battle at Kandahar, the last city held by Taliban and al Qaeda forces. "Everywhere the Taliban is looking they are coming under a lot of pressure, like a snake squeezing in on them," said Major James Higgins, spokesman for the US Marines at their new base south of Kandahar.

A group of 60 marines has started to set up a forward base at Jalalabad. British and US special force have been moving through mountain cave complexes and tunnels across southern Afghanistan. "The boys from 22 (SAS) have had some good fights," said a senior British officer at the weekend.

The US and British special forces have been joined by 155 Australian SAS, who have been given their own area of operations but are under American command, and units of the elite German police special forces.

American jets aiming to destroy Osama bin Laden's warren of tunnels deep inside Afghanistan's White Mountains were this morning reported to have bombed an anti-Taliban command post in the second major accident in as many days. A provincial military official in Jalalabad, which is in coalition with the Northern Alliance, said that US bombers killed eight senior mujahadeen officers who were gathering to plan an attack on the Taliban.

Over the weekend scores of civilians were also reported to have been killed in a village about 15 miles from Jalalabad when wave upon wave of US warplanes bombed Bin Laden's Tora Bora cave complex.

The agreement for the structure and make-up of the UN-backed interim government is expected to be signed in Bonn later today, after a deal between the Northern Alliance delegation and representatives of the former king Zahia Shah.

The week long negotiations had been in danger of stalling altogether, though few believed the original five day timetable was realistic. Provision had been made for the talks to run on at the hotel in Konigswinter until this coming weekend.

The main factions now have agreed to a relatively small interim government of about 30 strong. They have agreed that a former justice minister, Abdul Sattar Sirat, should head the government until a traditional grand assembly, Loya Jirga, decides on a long- ter m constitution for Afghanistan, which is likely to be on a federal model giving a large amount of power to the provinces and the different ethnic groups. Sirat, an ethnic Uzbek, has been behind the latest efforts to promote the exking, now 87, as the inspiration for rebuilding the country. He has suggested that the king should be allowed to return to Afghanistan soon.

Two of the most powerful political figures associated with the Jamiat-i-Islami wing of the Northern Alliance, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, its so-called foreign minister, and Younis Qasani, who has been responsible for interior affairs, are likely to retain these responsibilities in the new government.

The UN and the US are now moving towards calling for an interim peace force to ensure that the new government can get down to work and that a fully representative Loya Jirga can be called.

This could be led by Britain and France - the chairman of the Bonn talks, Lakhdar Brahimi, has argued for a robust highly professional force to oversee the initial stages of setting up an internationally sponsored settlement in Afghanistan.

The US is preparing to send a further 1,000 marines to Bagram airport to prepare the way for international aid agencies and security forces. Local Pashtun forces under Hamid Karzai, a staunch loyalist of the former king, and of the former governor Gul Agha are closing in on Kandahar. "Fierce fighting is going on south of the airport," Gul Agha reported overnight.