Hunt for Bin Laden hots up

The US seems no closer to finding its Enemy Number One

The United States says that despite the fall of the Afghan capital, Kabul, the war against the Taleban and Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network goes on.

The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said special forces were now operating in southern Afghanistan, which remains under Taleban control, as well as those working in the north alongside the Northern Alliance.

If they reorganise in the south, we're going to go get them. If they go to ground we will ... root them out. And if they decide to flee, I doubt that they'll find peace wherever they select

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

He said there were also very small numbers of US Special Forces in Kabul, but not enough to monitor or police the city.

US air strikes continued on Tuesday, with warplanes targeting caves thought to be hiding places for members of the al-Qaeda, a US official said on condition of anonymity.

His most senior military commander, General Richard Myers, said there were still pockets of resistance in areas captured by the opposition.

The Taleban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, is reported to have made a radio address in which he urged his troops to regroup and fight on.

Retreating Taleban

Deserters, he said, would be "would be like a hen and die in some ditch", reported the Afghan Islamic Press.

Mr Rumsfeld also gave the Taleban several unpleasant choices:

"They can flee and reorganise in the south, they can flee and melt into the countryside, or they can defect. If they reorganise in the south, we're going to go get them. If they go to ground we will ... root them out. And if they decide to flee, I doubt that they'll find peace wherever they select."

Mullah Omar has warned Taleban fighters not to desert

A Kandahar resident contacted by telephone said many Taleban appeared to have left the city, and the alliance has taken control of the key western city of Herat and is pursuing retreating Taleban forces in the north-eastern Kunduz province.

The Northern Alliance Foreign Minister, Abdullah Abdullah, said there was also a "popular uprising" in the eastern city of Jalalabad, although there was no independent confirmation of this.

But there has been no word on the location of Bin Laden, the prime suspect for the terror attacks on the US on 11 September.

The Taleban's refusal to surrender Bin Laden to the US after the attacks sparked the US strikes on Afghanistan.