TONY Blair will today tell the Taliban in Afghanistan: "We are coming to get you".

The Prime Minister will announce military strikes are to be made not only against terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, but also the Taliban regime itself.

He will use his speech to the Labour Party Conference in Brighton to declare that the Taliban "have had the chance to surrender terrorists they chose not to".

Mr Blair will tell party members: "We will eliminate their hardware, destroy their supplies, and target their troops."

Everything possible will be done to avoid civilian casualties, the Prime Minister will say. "But the dangers of inaction are greater than the dangers of action."

The premier appears to be setting the scene for a major military campaign involving US and possibly British forces.

But he will also use his speech to stress the importance of some good coming from the "evil" events of September 11, with the world community drawing together in the wake of the suicide hijackings in the US.

Mr Blair will emphasise the importance of the "humanitarian coalition", formed in the wake of the terror attacks to deal with the Afghan refugee crisis.

He will also stress the need for the Middle East peace process to be driven forward.

Mr Blair will pledge a massive aid programme to help the millions of Afghan civilians currently on the edge of starvation and fleeing from the threat of military action.

Mr Blair is expected to tell the conference that the humanitarian response "will be as well planned and as thorough as the military action," and will talk of "lasting good emerging from the shadow of evil".

His so-called "bread and bombs" strategy towards Afghanistan will get underway today with the first British humanitarian aid flight to the region.

A DC8, chartered by the Department for International Development and carrying more than 400 family-sized tents, will fly out from London Manston Airport in Kent to Mashhad in Iran, close to the Afghan border the first consignment of a £25m aid package promised by Britain for the region.

The United Nations has warned that up to 7.5m displaced people will need assistance both inside Afghanistan and in neighbouring countries.

Yesterday, the first international food convoy to Afghanistan since the September 11 attacks arrived in the capital Kabul.

Meanwhile, Downing Street disclosed that ministers were considering taking retrospective powers to detain in this country asylum seekers whose claims have failed when the authorities are unable to find a country to which to deport them.

The measures form part of the draconian anti-terrorism package unveiled on Sunday by the Prime Minister in an attempt prevent Britain becoming a "safe haven" for international terrorists.

'Mr Blair has said he intends to bring forward an emergency package of legislation within the next four to six weeks.

It is expected to include measures to tackle unlicensed bureaux de change, which ministers believe are used to "launder" billions of pounds a year of illicit funds.

Yesterday, Chancellor Gordon Brown confirmed that funds worth more than £60m had been frozen in Britain in response to the crackdown on terrorism