A force of up to 2,000 Afghan mujahideen fighters is preparing to advance on Tora Bora, the east Afghanistan village where Osama bin Laden and hundreds of his Arab al-Qaeda followers are suspected to be hiding.
An Afghan warlord told The Irish Times that a delegation of tribal elders is expected to travel to Tora Bora in White Mountain today, to issue the al-Qaeda fugitives with an ultimatum to surrender, or face attack.
"If they don't leave, we will fight them," the military commander in the east of Afghanistan, Mr Haji Zaman, said in Jalalabad yesterday. Mr Zaman also claimed he had private "direct" talks in recent days with "US representatives" in Jalalabad, on a possible advance on Tora Bora. He said more talks were planned, but refused to say who precisely he was in discussions with.
This is the first indication that alliance representatives may be on the ground in the eastern Afghanistan region.
The military commander, who was exiled from Afghanistan during the Taliban regime but who made a triumphant return two weeks ago, said it was agreed to send three to four representative elders from each of the three districts near Tora Bora to the area at a meeting with Pashtun tribal elders on Monday.
He said he did not think the al-Qaeda fugitives would agree to leave, and that already between 1,000 and 2,000 men were preparing to go to Tora Bora in the event that they refused.
Asked if this would be done in conjunction with US forces he said: "If we need US air forces we will ask."
He said they would not be informing the US of the exact plans to advance on Tora Bora. "We don't need to give them our plans. We know how to reach our purposes." Mr Zaman said he would be leading the fighters on Tora Bora. "It is my right and responsibility," he added.
The al-Qaeda fighters, on the run following the demise of the Taliban, are reported to be in the White Mountains extending their network of underground hide-outs in anticipation of a prolonged period of guerrilla warfare. There has been strong speculation that Osama bin Laden is with them.
While local reports say there are 2,000 fugitives in the mountains, the Mayor of Jalalabad and local commander Mr Engineer Ghafar, said he believed that there are only 400. He confirmed that a delegation of tribal elders is to travel to Tora Bora.
Asked what would happen to bin Laden if he was captured, Mr Ghafar said: "If someone captures him he will blast himself."
The delegation will urge the al-Qaeda members to give themselves up to the UN, which will assure them safe passage out of Afghanistan. He said the Arabs left in Afghanistan included between 20 and 30 of the world's most wanted terrorists.
The al-Qaeda fighters in Tora Bora, made up of Arabs, Pakistanis and Chechens, are said to have paid local people to leave the area. They are also said to have paid locals to excavate and extend mountain dens around the Tora Bora settlement.
When asked if he thought bin Laden was in Tora Bora, Commander Zaman said yesterday he did not know.
However, Mr Hazrat Ali, the most powerful of the Jalalabad warlords and the man in charge of security for the Eastern Zone, said on Monday he was 70 per cent certain that bin Laden was there.
He said that bin Laden had been spotted by local people in the White Mountains in the middle of last week riding on horseback at night and hiding in caves during the day.