Rumsfeld flies in to bolster new regime

The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, arrives in Afghanistan today to signal the allies' commitment to the country's post-Taliban administration.

Mr Rumsfeld is the first senior member of the US administration to visit Afghanistan since the war. His visit coincides with the arrival of a senior British military team paving the way for a multinational force.

Tony Blair is expected to announce in the House of Commons tomorrow that Britain will take the leading role in the international peacekeeping force which is due to begin arriving later in the week, once a mandate is issued by the UN Security Council.

The flurry of political and military activity comes as a new interim administration, led by Hamid Karzai, prepares to take office in Kabul on Saturday in what is seen as a crucial phase in the country's uncertain future.

Military operations are continuing in the attempt to hunt down Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar and there is increasing tension among the warlords and political strongmen who had formed the anti-Taliban front.

The Alliance's leader, former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, has strongly criticised the UN-brokered Bonn summit which led to the new administration, claiming it was an "offence" to Afghans engineered by foreign powers with vested interest. And the Uzbek warlord, Abdul Rashid Dostum, has been complaining about the number of posts his faction has received.

Both men have promised to support the Karzai administration, but the situation remains volatile. Yesterday Abdullah Abdullah, Mr Karzai's future foreign minister who is a senior Northern Alliance figure, said he accepted the multinational force, but sought limits on its use of force, which will be resisted by Britain and other countries sending troops.

Mr Rumsfeld is due to spend most of his time among heavy security at Bagram air base, north-east of Kabul, where he will meet US service personnel. American journalists are accompanying him, but such is the concern over safety that he is not scheduled to hold any public meetings.

US diplomatic sources say that the main purpose of the meeting was to show that faction leaders who sought to undermine the new administration will face the displeasure of the US, and that the allies are prepared to take forceful action to support Mr Karzai.

The US, however, does not intend to take a leading role in the multinational ground force, although it will provide air support. Instead Britain will head the force of marines, paratroopers and support headquarters staff, based in Kabul, which will eventually total about 1,000. Other contributions will come from France, Germany and Spain, as well as Muslim countries such as Turkey and Jordan.

The UN has urged that the force should be in place by Saturday to ensure that the political process begun at Bonn should continue. The organisation's senior peacekeeping official, Jean-Marie Guehenno, said the Security Council could authorise such a force ''within days'' once it is organised.

The British team which arrived at Bagram last night was led by Major General John McCall, who will visit Kabul today. He will be meeting US and Northern Alliance commanders before reporting back to London.

Bagram, built by the Russians during their 10-year war, will become the centre of the allied military and humanitarian operations and work is under way to prepare the base. The all-weather base is heavily mined, going back to the Russian war, and some of its buildings are believed to have been booby-trapped by the Taliban before they retreated. Clearing them is dangerous business; last week a Royal Engineer was badly injured while attempting to make a mine safe.

One problem facing British deployment is that Bagram, despite its size, is simply not equipped at present to take in large numbers of troops, and large-scale construction work will be needed.

A huge hangar was being repaired by American soldiers near the entrance to the base. Beyond that were rows of twisted skeletons of damaged Soviet airplanes: the symbols of how another superpower came to grief in Afghanistan.