US tells Alliance: stay out of Kabul

America and its leading allies in the anti-terrorism coalition are moving quickly to implement the next phase of a plan for Afghanistan. It includes a humanitarian mission to the south of the country.

President Bush has now stated firmly that the Americans do not want the Northern Alliance to fight its way into Kabul - for fear of causing a bloodbath and turning a humanitarian crisis into disaster.

This weekend the Americans clearly stated the aim of the next phase of the mission. "We have not said that Osama bin Laden is a target of this effort," said General Tommy R Franks, the US Operational commander for Operation Enduring Freedom. "What we are about is the destruction of the al Qaeda network, as well as - I will call them a non-state - the Taliban."

The same aim was spelled out by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in his major television appearance at the weekend. He said that Kabul was not the military "prize of prizes".

He said: "It may technically be the capital, but for all practical purposes the Taliban have their capital in Kandahar. Second: Kabul is a disaster area. It has been destroyed by the Soviet Union. It's been destroyed by civil war. It's a terribly damaged place.

"Third: whoever takes it is going to have to feed it. And the humanitarian assistance that's going to be required in there rapidly is going to be enormous."

The supporters of ex-king Zahia Shah have also called on the Northern Alliance not to enter Kabul, but to wait until a political agreement can be reached for a broadbased coalition to govern the capital and the country.

Members of the mainstream elements of the anti-Taliban opposition are due to meet in Turkey - though this meeting has been postponed several times.

British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon appears to have pulled back from his previous statement at the weekend that he expected the Northern Alliance "to steam through northern Afghanistan" and attack Kabul soon. He admitted for the first time that British troops are now operating with the Northern Alliance inside Afghanistan.

These are thought to be forward aircraft and artillery fire control parties - a couple of dozen or so at most. The number of combined US and UK special forces now in Afghanistan are now thought to be between 100 and 200.

Mr Rumsfeld has said that there are not enough American and allied forces on the ground to have full control over the Northern Alliance militias, which have committed some notorious atrocities in the past.

But the Americans are now confident that the Taliban forces are beginning to crack and that serious divisions are appearing between Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda and the leadership of the Taliban. The al Qaeda command still appears intact and is now leading the defence of several cities.

A sign of the new order of things in Mazar yesterday was the triumphant visit by the Uzbek warlord General Dostum to the main shrine after which the city is named.

Dostum flung open the gates of the tomb of Ali, a bright blue tiled building closed by the Taliban for being against the teachings of Islam.

Thousands followed him to the mosque. In the streets music blared out for the first time for three years. Women threw off the head-to-toe shroud, the burqa.