The Taliban abandoned their last stronghold of Kandahar on Friday as the militia that imposed harsh Islamic law on Afghanistan disintegrated after weeks of pulverizing US air strikes.
But as rival groups tussled over control of the city, any prospect that opposition tribal groups or the United States might collar Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar appeared uncertain at best.
A Pakistan-based news agency said he had left town and ''disappeared,'' one anti-Taliban faction said he was still in Kandahar with 1,000 followers, and the US military said it did not know where he was.
Anti-Taliban forces said they had captured the main base of Osama bin Laden in the rugged Tora Bora mountains of eastern Afghanistan, but had failed to find the Saudi-born militant blamed for the September 11 attacks on the United States.
US Marines on patrol from a desert airstrip in Kandahar province killed seven ``enemy forces'' overnight in their first ground attack since they seized the base almost two weeks ago.
Under a deal negotiated on Thursday with Hamid Karzai, designated leader of a new Afghan interim government, the Taliban in Kandahar were to turn in their guns to a group of local figures led by Mullah Naqibullah, a former anti-Soviet Mujahideen leader and military chief of Kandahar.
But one of Karzai's Pashtun tribal allies, Naqibullah's main rival for control of the town, said the deal was flawed.
``Hamid Karzai, the new prime minister, the new leader, has made a very, very wrong decision in Kandahar by himself. He did not consult the elders or anyone else,'' said Khalid Pashtoon, spokesman for former Kandahar governor Gul Agha Sherzai.
``He gave equal rights to Mullah Naqibullah which everyone opposes. The Kandahar people are very upset because the 1992 to 1995 misery was caused partly by Naqibullah,'' Pashtoon said by satellite telephone from near Kandahar airport.
``CITY IN CHAOS''
``Now the city is in chaos, there is street-by-street fighting, looting is going on.''
Abdul Khaliq Noorzai, a leading supporter of the former Afghan king, Zahir Shah, said there had been a gunfight between Naqibullah's followers and those of Gul Agha:
``Gul Agha right now is in Kandahar city in the governor's house...There are problems because there are a lot of different groups, lots of commanders and lots of former Mujahideen.''
The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said the surrender had been completed ``peacefully'' with forces laying down arms to a joint commission of tribal elders.
``Kandahar city is peaceful and quiet,'' commission member Haji Bashar was quoted as saying.
AIP also quoted Bashar as saying that Omar ``has disappeared from Kandahar and it is not known where he has gone.''
But Gul Agha's spokesman all but accused Naqibullah of harboring Mullah Omar and 1,000 followers.
``Our information is telling us that Omar...and some other leaders, they are all with Mullah Naqib,'' he told Britain's Channel 4 News.
``They (Mullah Omar's group) are in a friendly environment, they are not going to be arrested by Naqib unless we demand him to surrender it to us...We are going to talk about it tomorrow morning.''
In Washington, General Tommy Franks, commander of the US military operation, said he was unsure where Mullah Omar was.
Karzai said Omar must face trial after missing his last chance to renounce terrorism and repudiate bin Laden, and said that ``the Taliban authority is effectively finished.''
``For the higher-ranking Taliban, if there is a case against them they must face trial,'' he told reporters by satellite telephone from Shahwali Kot, north of Kandahar.
AMNESTY FOR RANK AND FILE
Karzai had said on Thursday he was granting an amnesty to rank and file Taliban, but insisted Omar must denounce terrorism and cut all ties with bin Laden's mainly Arab al Qaeda network.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld responded by saying that leaving Omar to ``live in dignity'' was not acceptable.
Karzai offered leniency for the many Pakistanis who fought with the Taliban, saying they could ``go back to their homes.''
But at Kandahar airport, Gul Agha's spokesman said 250 to 300 of the Arab pro-Taliban fighters who can expect much harsher treatment were refusing to surrender.
``Every Arab has one hand grenade in their pocket. The moment you get closer to them, they're going to blow themselves up, and you too,'' he said. ``So the only way you can surrender them is to shoot them. But we are trying. We're sending the people to convince them to surrender themselves.''
To the south, Pashtun tribal leaders took over the border district of Spin Boldak from the Taliban, whose forces headed west into the Registan desert, witnesses said.
Achakzai tribesmen took over the border crossing point with Pakistan, while Nurzai tribesmen moved into Spin Boldak town.
Shops were shuttered, shots rang out in the streets and rival Afghan flags fluttered from buildings, witnesses said. The atmosphere was tense.
At the nearby Chaman border crossing, Khan Mehmood, 27, was admitted to hospital with burns, crying ``Allah, Allah.''
His brother, Borjan, said a US bomb had fallen near their taxi, not far from Spin Boldak.
In the east, anti-Taliban forces said they had seized bin Laden's main stronghold in the Tora Bora area after fierce fighting, but failed to find him.
``The last and main base of Osama in Tora Bora was captured last night,'' Mohammad Habeel, a spokesman for the militarily dominant Northern Alliance, told Reuters.
``Our troops led by commander Hazrat Ali said that we have taken almost all of Tora Bora and its main caves. We have staged a mopping up operation to clear remaining parts of Tora Bora.''
He said Arab family members, including women, had been captured, along with weapons and vehicles. ``Osama was not in Tora Bora during the past days of fighting and if he had been, he has probably slipped into Pakistan,'' Habeel said.
(China Daily December 8, 2001)
