There are reports that new efforts are underway to negotiate a surrender of Taliban forces from the northern city of Kunduz. The city has been coming under heavy attack from US B-52 bombers, as well as Northern Alliance ground forces.
The situation is said to be confused with the Alliance saying that its troops had gained some ground, although journalists say that the front has hardly shifted. The central problem appears to be the fate of the foreign Taliban who are fighting in the city.
Meanwhile, two mass graves have been uncovered in western Afghanistan, according to the Northern Alliance. Approximately 60 bodies were uncovered. A source told the AFP news agency that the bodies were of fighters who had infiltrated the Taliban and were considered traitors.
Earlier, Alliance commanders claimed to have dislodged Taliban forces from the hills around the town of Khanabad, 12 miles east of Kunduz.
The attack began after nightfall and was accompanied by heavy American bombing. Several thousand Taliban soldiers are thought to be in Kunduz, including up to 3,000 Pakistanis, Chechens and Arab nationals.
There are fears that these foreigners are prepared to fight to the death rather than surrender. The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has already said that it would be unacceptable for the non-Afghan troops to be allowed to go free.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has meanwhile said that up to 600 bodies have been recovered in the northern Afghanistan city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The city fell to the Northern Alliance two weeks ago.
The organisation could not specify whether people had died in combat or had been executed after the city was captured. The organisation said it now feared for the welfare of thousands of Taliban in Kunduz.
