AS American bombs and anti-Taliban fighters hammered steadily at Taliban territory, Taliban officials pulled money out of other banks, too.

But Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the final assault on the city would be left to anti-Taliban Pashtun fighters.

Pakistani officials said today that anti-Taliban fighters from tribes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border are also moving toward Kandahar.

It is estimated that around 200 of the al-Qaeda fighters were killed during the battle, along with an unknown number of anti-Taliban tribal fighters.

The report said that 65 tribal elders and other anti-Taliban fighters were going to Kabul for the inauguration Saturday of the new government when they were killed by the American strike.

The soldiers manning the checkpoints in Farah, all anti-Taliban fighters, many of them back from exile in Pakistan or Iran, said the flags meant little.

Although the Taliban have been defeated in the north, neither the anti-Taliban fighters nor their commanders are ready to lay down their weapons.

Suddenly, anti-Taliban fighters and their commanders began rushing about, ordering them back.

They found that Taliban and anti-Taliban fighters had stolen the beds and blankets from their rooms, and used their books for fire.

State's priority was to create a new coalition government; Defense's priority was to help the anti-Taliban fighters take the city.