Afghanistan's Northern Alliance Foreign Minister has defended the entry of opposition forces into the capital, Kabul, despite international appeals for restraint. Abdullah Abdullah said that they had done so to maintain security after an unexpected Taliban retreat.
He added that the United Nations and all groups, except the Taliban, would be invited to Kabul for talks on a future government.
Tonight, the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, warned nations against providing a safe haven for Osama bin Laden. He also said that a small number of US soldiers were in the Afghan capital.
The Northern Alliance has been consolidating its hold on the country's capital, after the collapse of the Taliban's defences during the night. The Alliance has begun putting up checkpoints in the city.
Northern Alliance troops are now said to hold almost all of the northern part of the country with the exception of Kanduz, which is believed to be still in Taliban hands.
Taliban soldiers are thought to be moving south, and possibly withdrawing to their Pashtun stronghold, centred around the southern city of Kandahar. Reported to be speaking from Kandahar, the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, urged his troops not to desert.
There have been reports that Arabs who fought with the Taliban have been summarily executed. The United Nations refugee agency has called on the opposition forces to show restraint towards Afghan civilians as they continue to advance south.
But the calls may have come too late for some residents of the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. There are reports that the Northern Alliance has killed up to 700 people after entering the city in recent days.
International leaders are meanwhile debating the political future of Afghanistan. Pakistan has said that it does not want Kabul to be occupied by the Northern Alliance.
A Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman said that, pending the establishment of a broad-based political solution, Kabul should remain a demilitarised city under the control of a United Nations peacekeeping force or a multinational force.
The Alliance's Interior Minister earlier denied that his troops are occupying the city. Speaking in Kabul, Yunis Qanuni said that his movement wanted to set up a council to prepare for a transitional government.
The US President had urged the Alliance not to take the capital before a form of future government had been determined. An opposition commander said that the bulk of their troops remained outside the city and that they had only sent in a "police force".
The White House said that it was studying reports that the Taliban movement had abandoned the capital and described the situation as "very fluid".
Qatar's al-Jazeera television has said that US warplanes bombed its offices in Kabul hours before Northern Alliance forces entered the city. It said that no one was hurt in the bombing.
In a separate development, al-Jazeera has reported that Northern Alliance forces have captured the airport at Kandahar, the southern stronghold of the Taliban militia. They are also reported to have captured 50km of the road from Kabul to the eastern town of Jalalabad.
One of the first signs that the Taliban’s grip on Kabul had slipped was the broadcasting of music on the radio in the city for the first time in five years. The broadcast began with a prayer from the Koran, followed by a song by exiled Afghan singer Farhad Darya.
A female announcer said that the Taliban had been defeated and thrown out of the city. Women have been banned from most work and education since 1996. "You can celebrate this great victory," she said. Some young men have shaved off the beards the Taliban obliged them to grow.
