Afghan opposition forces fighting the Taliban say they will launch an assault on a western city after claiming sweeping gains in the north that would allow a key land-link with Uzbekistan to open.
Veteran Afghan mujahideen commander Mr Ismail Khan plans to launch an offensive lateer today against Taliban forces in the western city of Qala-i-Nau, his spokesman said.
"Inshallah (God Willing), we will launch our offensive against the Taliban in Qala-i-Nau tomorrow night and we are hopeful of victory," Mr Sayed Naseer Mohammad, spokesman for Khan, said by satellite phone from near the front line on Saturday.
The opposition Northern Alliance said it swept Taliban forces from four more northern provinces yesterday, a day after routing the militia in strategic Mazar-i-Sharif in their first major victory in the US-led war.
"We have captured Samangan, Sara-i-Pol, Faryab and Jowzjan provinces," ethnic Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum told Reuters by satellite telephone.
General Dostum said the northern border with Uzbekistan that snakes along the Amu Darya river, formerly known as the Oxus, remained closed but was under his control.
In beleaguered Kabul, a Taliban official declined to comment on reports of fresh losses in the north.
"We cannot confirm or deny it and have no comment at this stage as we have not established contact with our people there," the official said.
More than 10 bombs struck to the east of the capital before dawn, in the 46th day of US air strikes pounding Taliban positions to punish the militia for harbouring Osama bin Laden, who Washington suspects of masterminding the deadly September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.
The Northern Alliance said it would allow the United Nations and non governmental agencies to return to areas now under its control and resume providing aid to the local population.
"We will allow them to come at any time they want," said Northern Alliance spokesman Mr Ashraf Nadeem. "The United Nations can resume their work just like before."
The military victory at Mazar-i-Sharif, which straddles a key supply route between Uzbekistan and the Afghan capital Kabul, could allow what US officials are calling a "land bridge" to supply military and humanitarian aid to anti-Taliban forces and the Afghan civilian population as the bitter winter looms.