The US-led coalition scored two stunning successes in its mission in Afghanistan yesterday when the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, was reported to have surrendered control of Kandahar and it emerged that Osama bin Laden's closest friend and military planner had been killed in a bombing raid.
The apparent loss of Kandahar, the southern stronghold and spiritual heart of the Taliban, marks the final collapse of their formal rule in Afghanistan. Mullah Omar said he had agreed to leave the city by tonight and head back to the mountains after discussions with tribal chiefs who staged an uprising this week to challenge Taliban control of the city.
Just as damaging to Taliban and al-Qaida morale, Mohammed Atef, who as the military leader of al-Qaida is believed to have masterminded the September 11 attacks, is said to have died during a bombing raid on Kabul three days ago. The death of Atef, whose daughter is married to Bin Laden's son, will be seized on by the coalition as vindication of its strategy.
In the space of eight days, the Taliban has gone from controlling 90% of Afghanistan, including almost all its towns and cities, to holding almost none. Kunduz in the north, where about 3,000 Arab and Pakistani fighters are besieged by anti-Taliban forces, is the only city left in the hands of the Taliban and al-Qaida.
The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press agency said Omar agreed to leave Kandahar - almost seven years to the day after he had taken it - and head for the mountains after "in-depth" discussions with "close friends and army commanders".
Under the deal, control of the city will pass to Mullah Naqibullah and Haji Basher, two former commanders of Afghan resistance forces in the war against Soviet invaders who are not members of the Taliban.
The Pentagon expressed doubts about reports of the imminent fall of Kandahar. "I don't believe it," said Rear Adm John Stufflebeem. "I think that that our forces who are there are still operating under the assumption that it is a hostile environment. I think the opposition groups are operating in the same way."
Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun leader who has been trying to organise a Pashtun uprising in the south, said the Taliban leaders had no place to go if they left Kandahar. "They will find it very hard to find an escape route," said Karzai, adding that Taliban leaders would be offered amnesty if they surrendered and gave up their weapons.
He said he had a report from one of his people that there was "serious turmoil" in the city, and that some Taliban troops had tried to leave and were met by villagers who tried to stop them. The fall of the city and the apparent success of the US in killing one of the most senior al-Qaida leaders will be seen as evidence that it is possible to get to Bin Laden and to bring down his network, the fundamental aim of the war.
There were reports yesterday that Bin Laden had fled to Pakistan but these were denied later. The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said: "There isn't any reason to believe he is in Pakistan. There is every reason to believe he is in Afghanistan."
He described the way in which US special forces were hunting down the Taliban and al-Qaida: "They are killing Taliban that won't surrender and al-Qaida that are trying to move from one place to an other. They have gone into places and met resistance and dealt with it."
US bombing continued yesterday, despite the start of Ramadan. But the military emphasis is notably shifting from aerial attacks to special forces operations on the ground.
Taliban and al-Qaida supporters are being picked off all round southern Afghanistan. One report said US special forces on horseback were hunting them down and killing those that refused to surrender.
The death of Atef will make it more difficult for al-Qaida to launch further terrorist strikes.
Peter Bergen, who has written a book about Bin Laden, said his death would be "a significant blow" to al-Qaida. He said: "He's the military commander."
Atef, who is thought to have been in his late 50s, is a former member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the group which killed President Anwar Sadat in 1981 and has been a close aide to Bin Laden for more than 10 years. He helped recruit fighters for the war against the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the early 1980s and became al-Qaida's military leader five years ago.
He has been accused of encouraging attacks on American forces in Somalia in 1993 in which 18 died and directing the bombers who struck embassies in Kenya and Tanzania three years ago, killing 224 people and injuring thousands of others.
The bonds between Atef and Bin Laden grew stronger when the Saudi millionaire's 19-year-old son married the daughter of his military strategist in Afghanistan nine months ago. He was seen as one of Bin Laden's two most senior associates and was considered to be a likely candidate to succeed him.
Mr Rumsfeld said the reports of Atef's death "seem authoritative".
A US official, who asked not to be identified, said: "We believe that it is true that he was killed in the US bombing around Kabul." However, another official said his body had not been located.