West hails capture of Kabul

World leaders are pushing for an interim government

Western leaders and Russia have welcomed the Northern Alliance's recapture of the Afghan capital Kabul.

The White House said President Bush was "very pleased with the progress of the war".

Several countries also called on the United Nations to speed up efforts to find a political solution for Afghanistan.

In New York, the United Nations Security Council has begun a debate on Afghanistan.

Chirac: New government extremely urgent

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the president had welcomed the latest developments.

The overall objective was to destroy al-Qaeda, to eliminate the Taleban and to liberate territory that could be used to harbour terrorists, he said.

But he also called on the Northern Alliance to respect human rights and shun violent retribution.

The BBC's Rob Watson in Washington says the White House spokesman tried hard to downplay the president's call at the weekend for the Northern Alliance to stop short of Kabul.

Taleban 'collapse'

In London, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, told reporters at his Downing Street office that the Taleban forces may not be beaten yet but were "clearly in retreat" and in some places "in a state of collapse".

We need a UN presence in Kabul as soon as possible

Tony Blair

He urged a United Nations presence in Kabul and said plans for a successor government to the Taleban in Afghanistan were well advanced.

"I believe we can make real progress towards filling the current power vacuum in Kabul, but we need a UN presence there as soon as possible", Mr Blair said

His remarks were echoed by the French President Jacques Chirac who said that it was "extremely urgent" to find a broad-based political solution for Afghanistan.

Pakistan - until recently a close ally of the Taleban - also called on the UN to redouble its efforts towards finding a politicial solution for Afghanistan.

Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, said Kabul should remain demilitarized under a UN peacekeeping force.

Pakistan wants Kabul to be demilitarised

The Pakistani leader, who is currently in Turkey, told a news conference that Islamabad and Turkey could contribute to such a mission.

The Pakistani government had earlier made it clear that it did not want the Northern Alliance to retake Kabul. The BBC's Susannah Price in Islamabad says the government is now trying to come to terms with the fast moving events.

In Moscow, the Russian foreign ministry issued a statement welcoming the Northern Alliance's capture of Kabul and describing it as an important success of the anti-Taleban coalition.

But Russia also warned against installing "external forces" in a new Afghan government.

Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said such a move could cause a "new explosion" in Afghanistan, without elaborating.

UN challenge

While pressure is building for the UN to find a political solution for Afghanistan, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the country presented the organisation with one of its greatest challenges. He urged the international community to be ready to respond.

The Security Council in New York was debating a new resolution on Afghanistan on Tuesday, which is expected to support the UN's efforts to establish a broad based multi-ethnic government and to accelerate the provision of humanitarian aid.

UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi who was due to brief the Security Council, expressed hope that he could get a representative sample of Afghans together as soon as possible to work out some interim arrangements.

Robinson has warned against human rights violations

Earlier, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, had expressed concern for Afghan civilians in cities falling to the Northern Alliance.

"When territory has changed hands in recent years in Afghanistan, there has been a terrible massacre of civilians, raping of women, a retaliatory sort of destruction by whoever comes in to take a town or a city," she told reporters at a human rights conference in Delhi.

Former king disappointed

A senior adviser to Afghanistan's exiled king, Mohammad Zahir Shah, condemned the Northern Alliance's entry into Kabul.

"It is against the agreement they made with us," Abdul Sattar Sirat told the Reuters news agency.

"We did not expect that they would enter Kabul. We wanted Kabul to be demilitarized and that the Kabul government and administration should come under a political process."

Beijing avoided direct comment on the reports.

After hearing the news of Kabul's fall, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao merely said China hoped "to see an early peace in Afghanistan".