The Taliban held on to the southern bastion of Kandahar on Sunday, dismissing reports they would retreat to fight a guerrilla campaign in the mountains, as their opponents squabbled over Afghanistan ( news - web sites )'s future.
The Northern Alliance, which drove the fundamentalist militia out of Kabul last week, insisted it was committed to building an inclusive new government but gave no time frame, and said foreign peacekeepers may not be needed on Afghan soil.
Ethnic Pashtun tribes in the south, deeply suspicious of the mainly ethnic Tajik and Uzbek Northern Alliance, said they were pursuing their own efforts to agree a bloodless settlement with the Taliban and warned the Alliance not to march on Kandahar.
The Taliban have been pounded by 43 days of relentless U.S. air strikes to punish them for harboring Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites ), prime suspect in the September 11 hijack attacks in the United States that killed some 4,600 people.
Exiled former King Zahir Shah, seen as a key figure in a post-Taliban government, said a broad-based government was the only way to end decades of conflict in the war-weary country.
"The only hope for long-standing peace and stability in Afghanistan is to put in place a political structure which is representative of all Afghan people and all sectors including Pashtuns, Tajiks and Uzbeks," he told Britain's Sunday Telegraph.
"If this is not in place then peace will not come."
The military advance of the Northern Alliance, which swept into Kabul on Tuesday just days after starting a major land offensive, has far outstripped political progress on agreeing a future government for Afghanistan.
The Alliance had told other factions and its foreign allies that it would not enter Kabul until the structure of a broad-based post-Taliban government had been agreed.
But the Alliance now holds the capital, while a political deal is days or weeks away at best.
The U.N. says the Northern Alliance is obstructing efforts to arrange a crucial meeting on the country's political future. The Alliance wants talks on Afghanistan's future to take place in Kabul, while the U.N. wants a neutral location.
Seeking to end the impasse, U.N. envoy Francesc Vendrell arrived in Kabul on Saturday for meetings with Northern Alliance leaders. His arrival signaled the return of the U.N. to the ravaged city after an absence of more than two months.
Analysts say building a coherent government from factions that have mistrusted, fought and double-crossed each other for centuries is far easier in theory than in practice.
Zahir Shah's son-in-law, General Abdul Wali, told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper the king was concerned by the Northern Alliance seizure of Kabul.
"The Northern Alliance promised us that it would stop at the northern gates of Kabul to give others in the south time to move. But they did not stop," Wali said.
"We're not judging anyone, just saying a promise is normally something you keep. Obviously, the king is very concerned because he fears fighting might break out between factions and cause more casualties to innocent civilians."
The issue of foreign troops on Afghan soil drove a wedge between some Northern Alliance commanders and the international U.S.-led coalition that played a crucial role in aiding the opposition's military successes.
Senior Northern Alliance figures said that as long as they maintained security in Kabul, there would be no need for an international peacekeeping force. Some were unhappy about the arrival of 100 British special forces troops near Kabul.