UNITED NATIONS. Aug 7: In a sharp statement singling out the Taliban for criticism, the Security Council demanded an immediate end to fighting in Afghanistan and called for renewed peace talks under the UN mantle, reports AP.

Forces opposed to the ruling Taliban religious militia are backed into a small corner of northern Afghanistan, and the Taliban appears poised to capture all of the country.

In fierce fighting this week, it advanced on Mazar-e-Sharif. the stronghold of the northern alliance.

The council "demands an urgent and unconditional ceasefire leading to a final end to the hostilities? its statement said.

'The Afghan crisis can be settled only by peaceful means, through direct negotiations between the Afghan factions under United Nations auspices." it said.

Thursday's statement singled out the Taliban for last month's expulsion of non-UN and non-Red Cross aid workers.

"The council deplores the measures taken by the Taliban, which have made it impossible for nearly all humanitarian organisations to continue their work in Kabul."

Taliban officials have been insisting that aid agencies that want to work in Kabul must move from offices and homes scattered throughout the Afghan capital to dilapidated dormitories on the campus of Kabul Polytechnic, which has been heavily damaged in the years of civil war.

International aid groups say they are committed to providing education and other services to all Afghans, while Taliban officials accuse the agencies of flouting the country's laws and traditions.

Taliban officials have im-Ksed a strict interpretation of am since capturing Kabul in 1996. barring girls from school

and restricting most women to their homes.

The Security Council also called on "all states to refrain from any outside interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan, including the involvement of foreign military personnel."

Meanwhile. Afghanistan's northern alliance said Friday it captured several hundred Pakistanis who were fighting alongside extremist Islamic Taliban troops.

The antl-Taliban coalition did not say where or over what period the Pakistanis were captured. Neighbouring Pak-. >stan has denied its troops are helping the Taliban.

Taliban leader Mullah Omar, in a statement Friday, also rejected claims his fighters were aided by the Pakistani military in the bloody conflict in northern Afghanistan.