US warplanes bombed Taliban positions in Kunduz today as an ultimatum expired for them to surrender their last stronghold in northern Afghanistan or be wiped out.
A low-flying B-52 dropped several bombs on the hills around the Taliban-controlled town of Khanabad some 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Kunduz.
It was followed in the afternoon by two F-18s fighter bombers which struck the same area.
US aircraft have over the past week repeatedly targeted Taliban positions in and around Kunduz where, according to the Northern Alliance, nearly 30,000 Taliban troops are holed up, a third of them said to be Arabs, Pakistanis or Chechens.
Local commander Abdul Dayan said a Northern Alliance ultimatum for the Taliban forces to surrender or die had now expired.
"We will attack during the night ... by dawn the battle will be over," Dayan said.
Another alliance commander said the foreign Taliban loyalists would never give up. "They will fight to the death," he told AFP.
Earlier the Taliban Foreign Ministry said they were still in full control of Kandahar and had no plans to withdraw.
The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press reported late last night that the beleaguered Taliban had decided to withdraw from their powerbase and to take to the mountains.
AIP, which has close contacts with the Taliban, said Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had decided to hand it over to two local mujahideen commanders after days of talks with his military leaders.
But today the Ministry said the Taliban would never hand over control of Kandahar to the two men.
AFP