KABUL, Aug 27: A renegade Afghan militia commander agreed to be brought to Kabul on Friday after a US-brokered cease fire 10 days ago halted his forces' march on the city of Herat, a government spokesman said.

Amanullah Khan, a Pakhtoon, attacked earlier this month the provincial government of Herat province in Afghanistan's far west, bordering Iran. The government is led by Ismail Khan, an ethnic Tajik.

Amanullah was brought by air with the assistance of the US military to Kabul, but the spokesman declined to say whether he was under some form of arrest. Ethnic Tajik politicians have heaped criticism on President Hamid Karzai over his government's response to commander Amanullah Khan's attack.

Mr Karzai, who belongs to the ethnic Pakhtoon majority, is set to fight an election on Oct 9 that will be dominated by both security and ethnic issues. "Commander Amanullah was brought to Kabul on the basis of the government's and his own agreement," Jawed Ludin, a spokesman for Mr Karzai, said.

Mr Ludin would only say that Amanullah had been moved to prevent further violence, and more steps would follow. He also declined to comment when asked whether Herat's Tajik governor, Ismail Khan, would be summoned to the capital too.

Mr Karzai's government rushed around 1,500 troops to Herat to stand between Amanullah's militia and troops loyal to Ismail Khan, and US military personnel were deployed with the Afghan army while US helicopters provided air support.

Ismail Khan was angry that the government forces had played peacemaker instead of destroying an enemy whose forces, he says, were drawn from remnants of the Taliban.

Leaders of Tajik factions suspect Mr Karzai of building bridges with moderate elements among their old enemy, the Taliban, both to heal wounds and to broaden support among his fellow Pakhtoons.

Fiercely independent, Ismail Khan runs Herat like a private fiefdom and is critical of Mr Karzai's dependence on US support. While 18,000 US-led troops and the newly formed Afghan National Army are hunting remnants of the Taliban militia in the country's Pakhtoon-dominated south and east, the conflict in Herat province could damage Mr Karzai's standing with non-Pakhtoons.

Ismail Khan said a week ago that members of Mr Karzai's cabinet had encouraged Amanullah Khan to wage a war on him. He said the offensive was backed by simultaneous attacks launched by militias linked to Afghan drug runners.

Ismail Khan said the people of Herat had lost their desire to vote in the country's first democratic presidential election. The US envoy in Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad, cited fears that the conflict could stoke ethnic tensions to justify his diplomatic intervention, and in brokering a ceasefire on Aug 17 he agreed that causes would be investigated.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, the renegade commander withdrew his forces to Shindand, the site of a sprawling former Soviet airbase, some 125kms south of Herat. -Reuters