Routed Taliban 'collapsing like dominos'

Northern Alliance claims string of victories but Bush orders it to keep out of Kabul

Afghanistan's opposition forces have closed in on Kabul, claiming to have recaptured large swathes of territory from the retreating Taliban in a triumphant sweep across the north.

The opposition foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, described a sudden collapse of Taliban forces that he said put Northern Alliance troops on the outskirts of Herat, the main city in western Afghanistan, and approaching the capital after overrunning Bamiyan.

Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence, confirmed for the first time that British military personnel, believed to be members of the SAS, are active on the ground in Afghanistan.

"I can confirm that there are members of Britain's armed forces on the ground in northern Afghanistan, liaising with the Northern Alliance providing advice and assistance," he told BBC Radio 4's The World this Weekend programme.

Taliban forces were said to be withdrawing towards Kabul, two days after the dramatic fall of Mazar-i-Sharif, in what appears to be a sensational success for the American strategy of bombing in support of the Northern Alliance.

But many of the reported advances were unconfirmed. Most of them appeared to be the result not of pitched battles, but of the defection of local Taliban commanders – and the sincerity of those defections is not yet certain.

Mr Abdullah expressed surprise at the speed of the reported Taliban collapse. "I knew the cracks could produce a sort of domino effect and this could get out of their [the Taliban's] control," he said.

It was reported that a planned Northern Alliance offensive on Kabul had been "postponed" after US President George Bush warned the Alliance to hold back from the capital until a provisional government could be formed. But Mr Abdullah refused to rule out a march on Kabul in the coming days.

The alliance claimed its forces were about to enter Taloqan, yesterday, after Taliban commanders in the northern city defected along with 5,000 of their men. But the claim was impossible to verify, and the Taliban denied that the city had fallen.

If the fall of Taloqan is confirmed, all that would stand between the Northern Alliance and control of the north as far west as Mazar is the heavily fortified city and province of Kunduz. If Kunduz were to fall, forces in the north-east could join those who captured Mazar to create a continuous swathe of Northern Alliance territory.

Elsewhere, the Alliance claimed it had made major gains in the provinces of Bamiyan and Baghlan, and captured the towns of Eskamesh, Nahran, Chal, and the strategic road junction at Pul-i-Khumri, which commands the main road into Kabul itself.

But the alliance suffered setbacks as well. In heavy fighting overnight, Taliban forces pushed back an alliance advance in fighting on the Dasht-i-qaleh front line north of Taloqan, one of the approaches to Kunduz. There were rumours that a member of an American special forces team guiding bombers over the city had been wounded.

North of Kabul, alliance commanders appeared to be chafing at the bit as they heard of the successes to their west. But the US fears its strategy could unravel if they were to capture Kabul, where they are unpopular. It is thought the Pashtuns of the south will not stomach the minority-dominated alliance in the capital.

Mr Hoon told a newspaper that he would be "quite happy to see the Northern Alliance steam across northern Afghanistan and take Kabul" but after the Americans made their views clear, he amended his comments. "We want them [the alliance] to march towards Kabul, to take ground, to deny the Taliban regime and Osama bin Laden space in Afghanistan," he told BBC's Breakfast with Frost. Downing Street also said that it merely wanted the alliance to "march towards" Kabul but not yet enter the city.

Mr bin Laden warned the US-led coalition that he would never allow himself to be captured alive. "America can't get me alive," he told a Pakistani interviewer.