Leaders of Afghan Pashtun tribes, squabbling over control of the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, have formed a council to try to resolve their differences, a tribal spokesman said today.
"There is a shura (council) in the city now to try and figure out how to control the situation," said Khalid Pashtoon, spokesman for former Mujahideen Kandahar governor Gul Agha Sherzai, who seized the city's Governor's House yesterday.
He said the council included Hamid Karzai, appointed to lead Afghanistan's interim government from December 22, Gul Agha and Mullah Naqibullah, who accepted the Taliban surrender yesterday.
"Mullah Naqibullah is also there but that is the biggest obstacle," Mr Pashtoon said by satellite telephone from Kandahar. "Right now, we have to convince Mullah Naqibullah to stand aside." He also said Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was under Mr Naqibullah's control.
Victorious ethnic Pashtun fighters entered Kandahar yesterday, but there were reports of lawlessness and some clashes between rivals seeking to cement new powerbases.
Pakistan has stepped up security at the border on the road from Kandahar since the Taliban surrender and an official said no fleeing Taliban were getting across.
The road had been blocked to all traffic except pedestrians on the Afghan side, witnesses said. Push carts mounted by rocket propelled launchers were parked on the road, apparently by the new tribal administrators of the border town of Spin Boldak.
Aqil Samad, son of Pashtun commander Wakil Samad, said the Taliban had handed over their last Spin Boldak checkpoint to the forces of Pashtun commander Gul Agha last night.