Tribal chiefs who claim to have surrounded the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, said he was likely to be flushed out of his southern mountain hideout by tomorrow.
Mr Nusrat Ullah, an intelligence official in the southern city of Kandahar, said that the negotiations with those suspected of harbouring the cleric were put under pressure yesterday by threats of US bombing if he was not handed over.
"We have received a positive response from tribal chieftains who are sheltering Omar and his associates in Baghran," Mr Ullah said. "A breakthrough is expected soon." Afghan forces, reinforced by American troops, have been deployed near the village of Baghran, in Helmand province, since Monday, raising the expectation that the net is closing in on the fugitive.
Anti-Taliban leaders, led by Helmand's governor, Mr Sher Mohammed, had told the villagers to expect air strikes if Mullah Omar was not handed over by tomorrow, Mr Ullah said.
The Pentagon said the tribal talks were likely to yield the surrender of 1,000 to 1,500 Taliban fighters believed to be holding out at Baghran, but not their supreme leader. "I think it's a leap of faith if we believe that \the negotiations are on the behalf of Mullah Omar himself," Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem said.
Some Afghan officials said Mullah Omar, who slipped away from Kandahar just before it fell in November, would probably use the drawn-out surrender talks to move deeper into Helmand, a vast, wild, opium-growing province where central authority has seldom reigned.
Reuters news agency said the Helmand governor was putting pressure on Raees-e-Baghran, a tribal chief who is suspected of protecting Mullah Omar. The governor would supervise a surrender of arms promised by the tribal chief, who feared air strikes and had now pledged loyalty to the new government.
About 200 US marines returned to their base in Kandahar after searching a collection of 14 buildings said to have been used by the Taliban and al-Qaeda. They found a modest quantity of documents and weapons. In the eastern city of Jalalabad more than 800 fighters began hunting for remaining al-Qaeda members who escaped from last month's bombing at Tora Bora.
Pakistani security forces have arrested the Taliban's former envoy to Islamabad, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, his nephew reported. Mr Zaeef's humour at press conferences gave the Islamist regime a human face during the bombing. - (Guardian Service)