Pressure Builds in Kandahar -- and Bonn

Nov. 30, 2001 -- The battle for the last stronghold of the Taliban is under way but there are ominous signs on the horizon, as U.S. officials warned of more bloodshed and talks on the future of Afghanistan suffered a setback.

U.S. warplanes today bombed Taliban troops and an airport near Kandahar, the southern Afghan city where the Taliban was headquartered during its reign over Afghanistan.

Hard-line foreign-born Taliban soldiers are digging in, and there were reports of intense firefights not only with opposition groups but with their own local Taliban fighters, who are trying to negotiate a surrender.

Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace said the situation was "fluid."

"There has not yet been a major ground offensive battle. There are, we know, negotiations going on between the opposition forces and the Taliban leadership for surrender," he said.

The representatives of an ethnic Pashtun tribe in the area told The Associated Press it had captured five Taliban tanks, four pickup trucks, one anti-aircraft gun and a multiple rocket launcher at a Taliban checkpoint near Kandahar's airport, and 80 other Taliban fighters in Pakistan surrendered to them without firing a shot.

Around 1,000 U.S. Marines have taken over a desert airstrip within striking distance of Kandahar. They are expected to put pressure on the Taliban in the city, blocking roads and taking control of the city's one paved airport, but it is unclear if they will participate in any siege of the city.

Officers at the base said they have not yet encountered any enemy resistance.

U.S. officials warned the fight could increase in intensity. "This fight will continue until Kandahar is, in fact, a free city, as is the rest of Afghanistan," Pace said.

"Ironically, however, as the size of the Taliban real estate diminishes, the danger to coalition forces may actually be increasing," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld later said. "Let there be no doubt, there will be further casualties in this campaign, in Afghanistan and elsewhere."

Rumsfeld asserted the United States would not accept any deal that gives Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammed Omar amnesty or safe passage, and Omar has ordered his troops to fight to the last breath — raising the specter of a bloody upcoming battle.

In an interview with a Polish weekly magazine, WProst, Omar is quoted as vowing that "America can expect numerous surprises."

ABCNEWS' Bob Woodruff, reporting from Kabul today, said that anti-Taliban former mujahideen leader Gul Agha had massed around 3,000 troops about 4 miles south of the Kandahar airport and there were reports that other Northern Alliance troops were approaching the city from the north.

Hurdles at Talks

Near the German city of Bonn, efforts to establish an interim government to administer Afghanistan appeared to hit a snag as representatives of the Northern Alliance delegation, the largest of four Afghan delegations at the talks, failed to put forward a list of names for a provisional government while they awaited authorization from alliance leaders in Afghanistan.

The Northern Alliance asked the United Nations for a 10-day adjournment for its delegation in Bonn and their leader Burhanuddin Rabbani in Kabul to discuss potential candidates, but the United Nations rejected the request, a Western diplomat told Reuters.

He said the delegation could soon discuss names without authorization from Rabbani so that talks can finish as planned, with an agreement by Saturday.

Rabbani complained that his delegation was being put under pressure to compromise and told The Associated Press the interim council should be chosen by elections in Afghanistan rather than by appointment during the talks in Germany.

Although the Northern Alliance earlier agreed to the establishment of an international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, a previously contentious issue, Rabbani today said international peacekeepers on Afghan soil should be limited to 200 troops, according to the AP.

On Thursday, a senior Pashtun leader, Haji Abdul Qadir, left the talks, protesting the inadequate representation of Pashtun interests. Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and have dominated the Taliban.

Speaking to reporters in the German town of Koenigswinter today, Ahmad Fawzi, assistant to U.N. special envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, who is hosting the talks, played down the significance of Qadir's departure. "I don't think his departure will have an impact on the talks one way or another," he said. "I don't see any major setback as a result of his departure. People are not talking about it all day. He's gone and we have work to do."

Besides the makeup of the interim government, another sticking point is believed to be the role the former king, Zahir Shah, would play in any future administration.

Hunting for Key Figures

As opposition leaders in Germany worked to form the next government of Afghanistan, others were busy dismantling the previous one in Afghanistan.

The Northern Alliance has agreed to turn over to U.S. authorities Ahmed Omar Abdel-Rahman — a son of the blind Egyptian cleric imprisoned in the United States for conspiring to bomb New York City landmarks.

The younger Abdel-Rahman, who goes by the nom de guerre Seif Allah — "Sword of God" — is believed to part of Osama bin Laden's inner circle.

Speaking on ABCNEWS' Primetime on Thursday, Vice President Dick Cheney said he did not rule out the possibility that Abdel-Rahman could be tried by a U.S. military tribunal.

"A high-ranking al Qaeda official captured in Afghanistan who's been involved in the organization is exactly the kind of individual that the tribunals were established for," said Cheney.

Aid Situation Gets Complicated

At the compound near Mazar-e-Sharif where a prison revolt erupted earlier this week, Red Cross workers started registering the hundreds of prisoners left dead after the riot was put down.

But they had to stop after three Afghan officials who had gone into the prison to collect bodies were shot at. Two came out wounded, but the third man was not seen again.

A Red Cross spokesman said he did not know what had happened inside the building or who had fired the shots.

U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson joined Amnesty International in calling for an inquiry into the deaths of the prisoners, but British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told the BBC the British government saw no reason for an inquiry.

In Kabul, an official for a hundred members of the Russian Emergencies Ministry who arrived last week said they would have a field hospital operating by Saturday to help care for Afghan citizens in need of medical attention.

But a Russian diplomat who is part of the group drew attention by calling the camp the "Russian Embassy" instead of a "humanitarian center." Most countries are awaiting the conclusion of talks on the future of Afghanistan in Germany before setting up diplomatic missions.

Meanwhile, the number of Afghans fleeing the country's south for for Pakistan has tripled in recent days, reportedly in response to fighting around Kandahar. More than 1,000 people a day are crossing the border at Chaman.

Journalists Targeted

In other developments:

A U.S. military official confirms that Northern Alliance troops guarding the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul stopped a car loaded with explosives earlier this week. The hotel is the home for many Western journalists and it is believed the explosives were to be used to blow up the building. A British newspaper, The Guardian, reported that Taliban leader Omar has offered a $50,000 bounty to any Afghan gunman who shoots a Western journalist.

A U.S Air Force spokesman said the number of food packages dropped by the United States over Afghanistan topped 2 million.

The official count of the dead or missing from the World Trade Center attack continues to drop, as officials collate the various lists of people feared lost. New York City officials say 3,553 people are dead or missing, and they have identified 625 bodies. That number includes the 92 people on board American Airlines Flight 11 and the 65 on United Airlines Flight 175 — but not the hijackers.

ABCNEWS' John McWethy at the Pentagon, JohnYang in Germany and pool reporters with 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Southern Afghanistan contributed to this report.