Interim council formed

Taliban forces capture Kabul

KABUL: A fleeing Kabul family walks past a government truck-mounted multi-barrel rocket launcher and tanks parked in the eastern suburb of Microrayan on Thursday.AFP Another picture on Page 16

KABUL, Sept 27: Afghanistan's Taliban militia appealed on Friday for international recognition of its government after their forces captured the capital Kabul.
"We call upon the international community to recognise us as the government of the Islamic state of Afghanistan," spokesman Wakil Ahmad told Reuters by telephone from the southern Afghan town of Kandahar.
The Taliban announced just hours after the takeover that an interim six-man ruling council would run the country. A declaration by Talaban's supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar quoted by the Afghan Islamic Press (ATP) named his deputy, Mullah Mohammad Rabbani to head the council. Omar "earlier proclaimed Afghanistan a "completely Islamic state" where a "complete Islamic system will be enforced. There was some confusion about exactly how much territory was controlled by the Taliban. The Taliban described ousted President Burhanuddin Rabbani, Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and their top military commander Ahmad Shah Masood as "national criminals" for not accepting a Taliban amnesty in return for a surrender.

The men fled Kabul before the Taliban marched in. Witnesses said Kabul's streets were bustling with pedestrians, cyclists and cars and shops and markets were open despite an Islamic holiday. Militia tanks had pulled back to sidestreets although fighters were still visible at key points. People laden with belongings were seen returning to their homes in the eastern suburbs after fleeing earlier fighting. All key government installations appeared to be in Taliban hands, See also Pp 7,11 & 20 including the Presidential Palace and the Ministries of Defence, Security and Foreign Affairs. The country's currency, the afghani, surged to 11,000 to the US dollar from the 18,500 level it was trading at before Kabul fell. "We think the afghani will strengthen when the market reopens tomorrow," money changer Javaid told Reuters. Witnesses had earlier said government tanks, artillery and trucks loaded with soldiers had headed north, apparently towards Jabal usSharaj, the headquarters of military chief Masood at the entrance to the Panjshir valley. Elsewhere, India stepped up security at the homes of former Afghan leaders living in New Delhi, police said. Paramilitary troops surrounded the house of Najibullah's

widow and'raised security near the house of former president Babrak Karmal. The International Committee of the Red Cross said in Geneva the Taliban had agreed it could continue humanitarian relief operations, including approval for a 35-truck relief convoy. "We have to continue our work to help victims of the conflict," Jean-Pierre Monod told a news conference. "We have been helping around a quarter of a million people in Kabul, about 25 per cent of the city's population." In Tehran, Iranian President Rafsanjani called on the Afghan factions to stop fighting and set up a joint administration. Afghanistan's ambassador to India Masood Khalili said Rabbani and other government officials were about 25 km north of Kabul, and the government still held 13 of Afghanistan's 31 provinces. A Taliban commander, Musa, said an amnesty had been declared for all government soldiers and officers who gave up. "Taliban will not take revenge. We have no personal rancour. If the people find someone responsible for crimes in the past we will judge him according to Islamic law," he said. Loud explosions were heard overnight on Thursday as retreating government forces blew up stocks of ammunition they could not carry away to their strongholds in the north.Reuter/AFP