'We won't let al Qaeda surrender'

American special forces in Afghanistan will not accept the surrender of Arab and other foreign fanatics fighting for the al Qaeda organisation, US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said.

He also said that he does not want Taliban chief Mohammed Omar being allowed to surrender-and leave the country. Negotiations are due to resume today between the Northern Alliance and the Taliban defenders of Kunduz. Mr Rumsfeld has said that he does not want the al Qaeda fighters in the town being given free passage to other countries.

"It's our hope that they would not engage in negotiations that would provide for the release of al Qaeda forces, that would provide for the release of foreign nationals. The idea that they would keep their weapons is not a happy one from our standpoint, either," he said.

The UN's special envoy on Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, is announcing today that delegates from a broad spectrum of Afghan tribes and parties will meet in Berlin at the weekend to discuss the shape of a future government for Afghanistan.

A 12-man Russian foreign ministry team arrived yesterday in Kabul to open negotiations with the Jamiat i Islami party which now controls the city. They are to open an embassy and discuss support for the former president, Buhuruddin Rabbani, who now says he is in charge in Kabul.

British plans to send in up to 4,000 troops for a UN sanctioned humanitarian and stabilisation mission have been put on hold since the Jamiat leaders said they did not want any foreign troops to help them.

New British envoy Stephen Evans is due to hold further talks today about a possible British deployment. Downing

Street remains optimistic that British troops will be deployed, despite the hitch in the plan. Tony Blair had wanted the first battalion of UK troops, 2 Para, to be in Kabul by last Sunday.

So far there has been now visible support from Washington for an international stabilisation force led by the British and French.

France has had to delay its plan to move troops into the airport at Mazar i Sharif to supervise the distribution of aid.

There are signs that the Bush administration may be about to change its mind about backing a humanitarian mission with American troops. Last week the Pentagon said that US forces could not wage the war against the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda at the same time.

Significantly it has been announced that President Bush is to visit Fort Campbell, Kentucky tomorrow before going to Camp David for the Thanksgiving holiday. The White House has announced that the president "will have lunch with members of the armed forces and their families and deliver remarks" before going off to Camp David.

At the same time Mr Rumsfeld will head for Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he is due to make similar remarks. The two bases are the homes of the 82nd Airborne and 101 "Screamin' Eagles" Air Assault divisions. They are likely to be the forces deployed to Afghanistan if America is considering a large ground force.