KABUL, Nov 16: Taliban forces reportedly began evacuating their political and spiritual heartland of Kandahar on Friday to begin a guerrilla war from the mountains of Afghanistan.

Mullah Mohammad Omar ordered the pullout to avoid further civilian casualties from relentless US airstrikes against the southern city, the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said.

The withdrawal, if confirmed, would mark the final collapse of the Taliban’s hardline Islamic rule in Afghanistan.

Except for a besieged pocket of territory in the far north, the regime would control no major cities and only a few provinces in the dustbowl south of the country.

But Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations of the US Joint Staff, said he could not confirm that the Taliban were abandoning their spiritual capital.

“The report that I’ve seen indicating that Mullah Omar may be relinquishing control of Kandahar, I don’t put much stock in it at this point,” Stufflebeem said.

AIP, which has close contacts to the Islamic militia’s leadership, said the order to withdraw was given after consultations lasting several days with Taliban military commanders and close associates.

The report quoted sources as saying the Taliban would probably abandon and hand over Kandahar to other military commanders in “the next 24 hours.”

Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun tribal elder seeking to undermine the Taliban rule, said there were signs the evacuation had started.

“The only indication that I have is that some Taliban forces are moving up north and probably they are leaving Kandahar city and there are some skirmishes,” he told CNN television.

“The people have stopped the Taliban from retreating and it has gone to skirmishes.”

Ethnic Pashtun tribes have been closing in on Kandahar in recent days, capturing the airport as US warplanes pounded Taliban positions in and around the city.

Tribal groups on Friday claimed control of Omar’s home province of Uruzgan, and pressed on with efforts to negotiate the surrender of the Taliban’s neighbouring spiritual stronghold of Kandahar in the south.

“Uruzgan province has been totally liberated from the Taliban,” said Karzai, who has the support of the United States. He said the militia surrendered “through negotiations and without bloodshed.”

In Kunduz, on the other side of the country in the far north, a local commander issued a ‘surrender or die’ ultimatum to as many as 30,000 Taliban fighters digging in for a desperate last stand. Northern Alliance forces issued an ultimatum for the Taliban troops, which they say include fanatical Chechen, Arab and Pakistani volunteers, to surrender.

“Those who refuse will be killed,” said opposition General Mohammad Daud.

The US hunt for Osama got another boost with the capture by Northern Alliance forces of some senior al-Qaeda leaders, US officials said.

“They are senior enough to provide some meaningful information,” the official said.

The US military commander in charge of the Afghan campaign, General Tommy Franks, insisted time was running out for bin Laden and al-Qaeda. “We are tightening the noose,” Franks said. “It is a matter of time.”—AFP