Close shave with the Taleban

Refugees have been fleeing the Kandahar area

		By the BBC's Jim Muir

Amidst confusion over the situation in the Taleban stronghold of Kandahar, it is clear that the Taleban are still holding on in positions at least 200 kilometres (125 miles) away to the west.

Inspired by reports that the Taleban were already leaving Kandahar we set off southwards from Herat to see if it might be possible to make the 10 hour drive to the apparently collapsing Taleban stronghold.

The Taleban say they are still in control

As we passed through the last major positions held by anti-Taleban Mujahideen guerrillas near the airbase they captured at Shindand earlier this week, they told us that they had a presence some five hours drive further down the road.

So it was with some surprise, to say the least, to find that after just two more hours of driving across empty desert plains we suddenly arrived in a village firmly under Taleban control.

Quizzed

We tried to bluff our way out, but were detected and detained.

There were tense moments as they searched our belongings and questioned us before taking us to see their leader.

He, and about a dozen others, were in a dark room listening to news on the radio.

Luckily for us perhaps, he seemed distracted and pre-occupied. After questioning us briefly he told his men to let us go, which we were only too glad to do.

Torture allegations

These Taleban told us they controlled all of the 200 km (125 miles) or more of terrain to Kandahar and their leaders there have angrily denied the reports that they were leaving.

Returning to Herat we learned that the Mujahideen have dug up the bodies of 26 of their comrades at the Shindand airbase.

They had apparently been tortured and executed by the Taleban in the months before they fled.

Had we known that at the time, our brief visit with the Taleban would have been even more anxious.