Sunni Islamic Taliban troops swept northward in relentless pursuit of the country's former government forces yesterday, claiming victory over key towns and a province north of the capital, Kabul. But their way appeared to be barred at two places by a northern warlord.
The Taliban claimed it had bottled up the former defence minister, Mr Ahmad Shah Masood, in his Panjsher valley stronghold following a two pronged advance overnight.
But the position of more than 250,000 people who have fled Kabul - where strict Sharia law is being enforced by the Taliban - for the "protection" of the valley area was not clear last night. Hundreds of fleeing Afghanis were controlled by police gunfire at the border with Pakistan (which already has about 1.5 million Afghan refugees), preventing a large Red Cross food convoy from crossing.
A Kabul mullah, Mr Zia-ul Haq, said: "Many Kabulis fear that if they don't leave they will starve to death in already terrible conditions because women can't work anymore, and women are very often the only money earners in the family," he added.
Last week, women were forbidden by the Taliban from going to work and girls' schools have since been closed. Witnesses in Kabul said at least four women had been beaten in public for violating dress codes by Taliban fighters wielding long chains in three separate incidents on Sunday.
A Taliban commander said that a request to the forces of the northern Uzbek warlord, Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum, to allow Taliban fighters passage into the north, had been rejected. Villagers in the area packed goods on trucks and buses and quickly left northwards.
The Taliban now control three quarters of the country. Gen Dostum holds six northern provinces.
A UN official visiting the area urged the Taliban to go to Gen Dostum's people in friendship rather than war after the general's forces advanced to about two miles from those of the Taliban.
It was not immediately clear whether the Taliban wanted the passage through the famous Salang Highway to attack northern provinces held by forces loyal to the ousted president, Mr Burhanuddin Rabbani, or wanted to capture Gen Dostum's territory. Gen Dostum has so far stayed away from the conflict between the Taliban and the former government, which he also opposed.
The Taliban militia was halted at the village of Golbahar at the mouth of the narrow gorge leading into Panjsher after a steady advance from Charikar, 40 miles north of Kabul, through to nearby Jabal os-Siraj, fighters said, adding that they were awaiting orders on whether to assault the valley.
Taliban troops said that Gen Dostum had also moved significant forces into the area north of the Salang tunnel, which crosses the formidable Hindu Kush mountain range, over the past few days.
Taliban sources quoted by a Pakistan based Afghan news service said that Kapisa province to the east of Golbahar and its capital, Mahmud-i-Raqi, had fallen to the militia on Monday.
The speed of his retreat - from Kabul to the valley in just three days - seemed to have dismayed the Tajik people Mr Masood leads.
The Taliban "religious police" announced on Kabul Radio that civil servants and military officials must grow beards, and not trim them, or face severe punishment.
The Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Yevgeni Primakov, said Russia was not planning to make contact with the Taliban, Interfax news agency reported. He was sharply critical of the UN, saying it had broken it 1992 commitment to guarantee the safety of the assassinated former president, Mohammed Najibullah.