November 16
In an interview with the Today Programme, the Taleban rejected Tony Blair's claims that they are a spent force.
The Taleban's Deputy Ambassador in Pakistan, Sohail Shaheen, told our reporter Zubeida Malik that the Taleban "nation" could not be crushed and would fight back.
But he reiterated that he condemned the September 11 attacks on the US. He insisted that the Taleban were "ready to resolve the issue of Osama" with Washington.
However, the Northern Alliance's representative in London, Ahmed Wali Massoud, told the programme that the Taleban were finished.
In an interview with Sue MacGregor, he said the Taleban regime had crumbled quickly because it had little popular support among the Afghan people and had been reliant on Pakistani and Arab support for its survival.
He said the Northern Alliance was keen to establish a multi-ethnic government of national unity and that the former King of Afghanistan could play an important role in its formation
