Alliance prepares to storm Kunduz as negotiations continue
The Northern Alliance is preparing to storm the city of Kunduz, where hundreds of Taliban fighters have reportedly surrendered.
It is feared many foreign fighters remain in the besieged city ready to fight to the death.
But alliance commander Dagarwall Zabid Mohammed says he expects all Taliban to surrender by the end of the day.
Around 600 foreign fighters - Chechens, Arabs, and some Pakistanis - have been taken to the city of Mazar-e-Sharif after surrendering, an alliance spokesman said.
At the eastern front line tanks and troops are preparing to storm the city, while on the western flank troops are also rallying.
Meanwhile, negotiations are continuing for the surrender of all 15,000 Taliban troops stationed in the city and outgoing areas.
Hundreds of Taliban troops are reported to have fled Kunduz in tanks and pick-up trucks to surrender to the Northern Alliance.
Under a deal negotiated between the alliance and the Taliban in recent days, the surrendering soldiers are to be put in detention camps pending an investigation into their links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network and possible trial by Islamic courts in Afghanistan.
UN deputy envoy Francesc Vendrell suggests Taliban fighters could be detained in "accommodation" provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross rather than killed.
The UN is calling on the Northern Alliance to "exercise restraint", Mr Vendrell said.
