ISLAMABAD, July 23: Afghanistan's Taliban militia today captured Taleqan, capital of the northern province of Takhar, according to militia sources.

Taliban spokesman Wakeel Ahmed told a private news agency said that the militia silenced the last resistance put up by the forces of former defence minister Ahmad Shah Masood at Taloqan airport, gaining total control over the province.

One of the two helicopters standing at the airport tried to flee but was shot down, the spokesman said without giving details of the battle.

Taliban's claim of capturing Takhar, the political seat of the ousted Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, came on the heels of the rapid advance of Gen Masood's forces towards Kabul. If confirmed, Takhar would be the second northern province under the control of the Islamic militia after Kunduz.

Aid agencies in Kabul have decided to cut the number of their international staff as the front line between warring factions in Afghanistan gets nearer to the capital. Opposition forces under their commander Masood have made significant advances towards Kabul from the north over the past few days.

The front line is now less than 64 km away. ``It is a voluntary staff reduction because we don't know what Masood is going to do next. It means that if we do come to an evacuation, there will be less people to evacuate,'' Ross Everson of the aid agency umbrella body - agency coordinating body for relief - said. Everson said only 14 of more than 120 international aid staff would be leaving kabul by road today. ``If the situation deteriorates further, we will be asking more people to leave,'' he said. In the past, most aid agency personnel movements have been on Red Cross or UN planes through Kabul airport.

Both agencies temporarily suspended flights after the airport became the target of a number of recent opposition air attacks.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.