US offers bombing pause

Growing numbers of civilians are fleeing Kunduz

The United States has offered to halt its bombardment of the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, if it would help negotiations for the surrender of Taleban troops holed up in the city.

Talks between the Northern Alliance, which has encircled the city, and the besieged Taleban militia are reported to be at a standstill.

About 30,000 civilians are believed to be trapped inside Kunduz, which came under renewed attack by American bombers on Wednesday morning.

I don't know how long that battle will continue but at the end of the day we will prevail in the city of Kunduz

US General Tommy Franks

The Taleban has been given three days to give up or face an all-out assault, but the Northern Alliance says any amnesty would apply only to Afghans and not to foreign fighters.

Taleban representatives in Pakistan have asked the United Nations to intervene to allow the movement's fighters safe passage out of the city, but the world body says it does not have the personnel on the ground to do so.

Many civilians are reported to have died in the bombing

The request has also been rejected by the US and Northern Alliance.

As the conflict continued, the US general in charge of the military operation in Afghanistan, Tommy Franks, said the United States might send an additional 2,300 marines to join troops already in place in Afghanistan.

Click here for map of the battlegrounds

In Washington, the deputy director of operations of the Joint Staff, Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem, said the US would halt its bombing of Kunduz if the Northern Alliance asked it to do so, but the alliance has so far not responded.

The BBC's Peter Greste says the siege of Kunduz has all the makings of the bloodiest episode in this already bloody conflict.

He says the last thing either the Alliance or the Pentagon needs is a bloodbath ahead of Monday's UN-sponsored conference in Germany which will bring together Afghan factions to discuss forming a broad-based government.

In other developments:

• The US and other countries promise a quick start to the process of reconstructing Afghanistan
• Aid agencies call for the UN to organise a multinational force to restore stability in Afghanistan
• US broadcasts and leaflets tell Afghans of a $25m reward for the capture of Osama Bin Laden
• The bodies of four journalists killed in Afghanistan on Monday are brought across the border to Pakistan

The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes says there is panic both among the Taleban fighters in Kunduz and the civilian population, growing numbers of whom are managing to flee.

People are terrified. Many ordinary people have been killed, as well as Taleban

Kunduz refugee

"The bombing of the last few days has been terrible," said Nasid Mir, one refugee who had walked all day with his family from the nearby town of Khanabad.

"People are terrified. Many ordinary people have been killed, as well as Taleban," he told our correspondent.

Some families said they had been forced to leave by Taleban fighters, some said hardline Taleban troops inside Kunduz are refusing to allow more civilians to leave the city.

Others described panicking Taleban desperately trying to sell their guns to pay for drivers so they themselves could leave.

Abdul Karim, escaping Kunduz, said others were shaving off their beards so they cannot be identified with the Taleban.

"Soon only the foreign fighters will be left," he said.

These men, mainly Arabs, Chechens and Pakistanis, are, according to the Northern Alliance, the major obstacle to resolving the stand-off around Kunduz.

General Franks, who visited Bagram air base near Kabul on Tuesday for talks with Northern Alliance leaders, was confident the Taleban would be defeated in Kunduz.

"I don't know how long that battle will continue but at the end of the day we will prevail in the city of Kunduz," he said after his first visit to Afghanistan since the strikes began.

'Rights respected'

General Daoud, the alliance commander in the Kunduz region, said the foreign fighters had killed more than 450 Taleban who were thinking of surrendering, including a commander.

These non-Afghan fighters have often been treated brutally by the Northern Alliance since the fall of Kabul a week ago and may have decided their only choice is to remain and fight.

Alliance soldiers are poised to attack Kunduz

"We will deal with the foreigners according to international laws and human rights conventions," General Daoud told Reuters news agency.

He named the Taleban commanders who wanted to discuss surrender as Mullah Dadullah, former commander in Mazar-e-Sharif, and Mullah Fazal, former commander in Takhar province bordering Kunduz.

An American spokesman in Pakistan said there were about 12,000 Taleban in Kunduz, including some of their best forces, along with some 3,000 foreign volunteers.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld earlier said he wanted the Taleban and its supporters taken prisoner or killed but not given the opportunity to escape.

He also made it clear he does not want Taleban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, who is believed to be in the southern city of Kandahar, to be allowed to negotiate an escape from Afghanistan.

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