'Taliban rule is over'

Taliban rule in Afghanistan is over, the country's new prime minister Hamid Karzai declared today.

As Taliban fighters gave up their arms and their last stronghold of Kandahar was handed over to the new government, Karzai said: "Today they are no longer part of Afghanistan."

Speaking over a satellite telephone, he said that the Taliban's founder and spiritual leader, Mullah Omar, who had been commanding the defence of Kandahar, had gone missing. Omar, he said, would be arrested and put on trial by an international tribunal if he is found.

The handover of weapons followed days of negotiations masterminded by Karzai, who will take over as Afghanistan's interim leader. Most Taliban fighters have asked to return home to their farms and villages.

Those who do not want to surrender have been seen fleeing Kandahar in trucks. They may be planning to hole up in mountain hideouts or make a run for the border with North West Frontier Province.

Today scenes of chaos and looting were reported inside Kandahar.

Karzai arranged the surrender through a series of intermediaries, and yesterday ordered his forces around Kandahar to cease firing while the final details were agreed. He did not speak directly to Omar.

American defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he wants Omar taken dead or alive. If he was allowed to go, he warned, America would withdraw support for the local Pashtun commanders in the region - including Karzai.

Rumsfeld advisers in Washington have made it plain that the Bush administration would prefer to see both Omar and Osama bin Laden killed in the field to avoid a messy public trial that would carry a huge security risk.

The surrender in Kandahar has been conducted in an atmosphere of confusion. The neighbouring province of Helmond, another Taliban stronghold, also agreed to give up, and Taliban leaders have agreed to hand over the border town of Spin Boldak.

The collection of weapons in Kandahar is being directed by another Pashtun tribal leader, Mullah Naqibullah, who is credited as the man who originally brought the Taliban to the city.

Kandahar was the first city taken over by the Taliban in its triumphal march through Afghanistan in 1992.

It was there that Omar set up his headquarters, and his family compound was one of the first targets of the American aerial bombing campaign which opened on 7 October. He was away at the time but several relatives were killed, including a father-in-law, two nephews and, possibly, a son.

Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban tyranny, is where the regime has to come to an end. However, fighting in the region seems far from over. Today intense small arms fire was heard around the main US Marine base just outside the city. Marine patrols had been responding to an attempt by a band of Taliban to break into the camp.

Many civilians who had not been able to flee during the weeks of US air attack on Kandahar are reported to be in a pitiful condition - some close to starvation - and Pashtun tribal commanders warn of an impending humanitarian disaster.

The former governor, Gul Aghar Sharzai, a close ally of Afghanistan's ex-king Zahia Shah, says he is anxious to take control of the city again.

He and his fellow Pashtuns of the region seem anxious to back the new UN plan for the future government of their country - but some of the prominent warlords of the north have turned against it.

The Uzbek lord of Mzar, Abdul Rashid Dostum, has told his followers "to boycott" the UN deal as it does not give them key ministries. The powerful lord of Herat, Ismail Khan, has yet to reveal whether he backs the Bonn agreement or not.

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