The Northern Alliance was under mounting pressure today to form a broad-based government in Afghanistan as the last two major pockets of Taliban resistance were reported to be negotiating their surrender.
But international interest seemed to draw increasingly testy responses from the new masters of Kabul, flush from a series of military victories that saw a rapid crumbling of their Taliban foes' five-year hold on power.
The collapse of the Taliban as a political force was confirmed by Pakistani Foreign Minister Mr Abdul Sattar, who said Islamabad no longer recognises the militia government, although it maintains diplomatic ties.
"We have not yet announced any de-recognition of the Taliban government but that does not mean that we continue to recognise it," he said, saying Islamabad "would be happy" to deal with future UN-sponsored administration.
"We do not recognise in the meantime a claim by any leader to represent the whole of Afghanistan," Mr Sattar said.
The country was far from safe, with four people, including three foreign journalists, killed today on the road from the eastern town of Jalalabad to Kabul, according to witnesses. Further details were not immediately available.
Taliban fighters besieged in the northern city of Kunduz offered a conditional surrender, and a peaceful transition of power was reportedly under negotiation in the Taliban's southern stronghold of Kandahar.
US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell vowed Osama bin Laden would be captured, but it is unclear how much help he is getting from the Alliance.
The Alliance's interior minister, Mr Younis Qanooni, who announced yesterday the Alliance had localised bin Laden at a base 130 kilometres (81 miles) east of Kandahar, was vague on whether the information was being sent to Washington.
"We've been fighting Osama bin Laden and his terrorist al-Qaeda network for the past seven years. The United States has recently joined us in this campaign," Mr Qanooni told AFP.
"We should ask whether the United States is going to co-operate with us in fighting international terrorism, not the other way around," he said.
AFP