The commander of the US military operation in Afghanistan has said the noose is tightening on Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and the ruling Taliban. The US Defence Department said 50% to 60% of the country was now under the control of the Northern Alliance, but that pockets of resistance remained.
Tribal leaders from southern Afghanistan have said the Taliban is still holding the southern city of Kandahar. The leaders have said that they will send a delegation to try to arrange a peaceful resolution to the conflict. They also warned the opposition Northern Alliance to stay away from Kandahar.
The Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has said that his forces will regroup and fight on. He also said that he would prefer death to participation in any broad-based government imposed on the country.
Speaking to the BBC's Pashtu-language service, he said that the southern city of Kandahar remained in the hands of Taliban fighters. There are conflicting reports of the status of the city, however.
The US Defence Department has meanwhile said that its warplanes have killed some leaders of Afghanistan's Taliban and the al Qaeda network, but there is no evidence that Osama bin Laden is among the dead.
Meanwhile, the Taliban held city of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan has come under attack from opposition forces. Reports said, however, that the defenders were showing no sign of laying down their arms.
Several hundred foreign fighters were believed to have been in the city, which is a located at a strategic point between the Tajik and Afghan capitals. The Afghan capital, Kabul, is under the control of the Northern Alliance.
