Chaos reigns in Kandahar

The rout of the Taliban entered a decisive phase today as Northern Alliance forces swept across Afghanistan in an advance that forced the Islamic militia to abandon even its traditional havens and heartland in the south.

The situation appeared increasingly chaotic in the east and south. The eastern city of Jalalabad fell into the hands of local powerbroker Yunus Khalis after residents turned against their Taliban rulers.

Some reports from Kandahar, the seat of Taliban power, said officials and militia had vanished. Followers of Khalis also reportedly took control of the Afghan border station at Torkham, a major crossing point into Pakistan.

The Taliban's spiritual leader, Mullah Omar, said in a radio address monitored in Pakistan, that he was still in Kandahar and that he had not fled. However, Pakistani officials doubted that.

Saeed Hussain Anwari, a Shi'ite Muslim commander, said local anti-Taliban fighters had seized Kandahar airport but the city itself was still contested. Opposition tribal chief Hamid Karzai confirmed that Taliban troops were preparing to defend Kandahar.

At the Pentagon, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested leaders of the Taliban or Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network might flee across into Iran or Pakistan. He pledged they would be hunted down but added that US officials still didn't know Bin Laden's whereabouts.

US forces accompanying Northern Alliance commanders in Kabul are searching Taliban items such as computer disks, maps and documents.

The Alliance claimed it now held 80 per cent of the country, with a Pakistan official saying: "The Taliban phenomenon is over. What we have now is chaos.î

His words reflected a deepening sense of anxiety here over reports that Alliance troops were executing prisoners, kidnapping girls and pillaging communities.

In Kabul the Alliance moved to consolidate its grip, taking over key posts and ministries despite a pledge to support a broad-based government. Its leaders said they were bringing their men under control after some had ransacked homes and looted the local market. The Pakistan embassy, which has been empty for weeks, was stripped of furniture. UN co-ordinator for Afghanistan Stephanie Bunker said that looting of aid agency premises had continued in Mazar-i-Sharif and UN vehicles had been seen driven by Alliance commanders.

She said in Islamabad: "There are reports of tensions among Alliance troops and there are bodies in the streets although it is not clear whether they are civilian or military.î She said aid was beginning to flow into Afghanistan from Uzbekistan over the Termez river crossing and that more would be needed to help an estimated three million Afghans who face hunger and displacement in the coming winter.

Meanwhile, she said, Kabul was calm. "There are no reports of shooting or bombing and the situation is getting back to normal with shops opening and traffic moving. There have been no incidents.î She said the Alliance had posted guards on UN premises and had given assurances that aid facilities would be secure.

Away from the frontlines Alliance leaders were jockeying for power in a post-Taliban set-up. Bolstered by their military gains - which observers said surprised even them - they began issuing statements that officials here find ominous. The Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum started talking about forming a cabinet, and there was a report that former president Burhanuddin Rabbani had re-appointed himself to his old job. He was ousted by the Taliban in 1996, although he is still recognised by the UN as Afghanistan's de facto leader. Meanwhile the exiled king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, has recorded a radio message in which he tells his people he is returning after 28 years. The 87-yearold said he will not return as monarch but as a "servant of Afghanistan".

The message, recorded yesterday in his house in Rome in English and Pashtun, is to be broadcast today on the BBC World Service, CNN and Voice of America radio.

The king says: "My dear children, I appeal for unity among the Afghan people. Avoid vendettas and respect the rights of the people. Very soon I will return to service my country but not as sovereign, but as a servant of Afghanistan."

The Taliban's deputy ambassador in Islamabad, Sohail Shaheen, said that the flight from Afghan cities was a tactical manoeuvre. He said the Taliban was regrouping and forming a new plan. But intelligence indicated a mass flight towards the tribal areas on the Pakistan border. The UN refugee agency said huge numbers of people, including women and children, were flocking to crossings at Torkham and Chaman. Pakistan reinforced its border patrols and the crossings remained closed but no one doubts that fleeing Taliban soldiers will find a way out if they want to. The crucial question is whether they include Osama bin Laden.