PROTECTION OF HUMANITY - Afghanistan

Taleban surrender last stronghold 

Friday, 7 December, 2001 BBC

The Taleban say they suffered huge losses in Kandahar

Taleban fighters in their last stronghold of Kandahar have begun surrendering to forces loyal to the new UN-backed administration.

One Taleban source said US air strikes on the city had killed 10,000 people, mainly fighters, over the past two months.

Surrenders are also taking place in other regional centres such as Spin Boldak and Lashkargah.

And in another development, anti-Taleban forces have announced the capture of the main base of top terror suspect Osama Bin Laden in the eastern region of Tora Bora.

According to the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press, the fighters in Kandahar are handing their weapons over to the forces of field commander Mullah Naqibullah, who was once a Taleban ally.

The surrender was negotiated in recent days but confusion has emerged over the terms.

The United States strongly rejects any amnesty for Taleban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar who is believed to be still in Kandahar.

Afghanistan's interim Prime Minister, Hamid Karzai, has told the BBC that there may be an amnesty for Omar if he denounces terrorism and foreign Islamic militants based in Afghanistan.

On Friday he qualified this statement by saying Omar had to "face justice" if evidence was found US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has ruled out allowing Omar - whom Washington is pursuing as an ally of Bin Laden - to "live in dignity".

While the US would "prefer to have Omar", he said Washington aimed either "to bring justice to... or bring... to justice" the leaders of the Taleban and Bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation

But the Taleban's most prominent figure in Pakistan, Salam Zaeef, said that Omar had decided to surrender in Kandahar to "save the life and dignity of Afghans".

An unnamed Taleban source, also speaking in Pakistan, told the French news agency AFP that US air raids on Kandahar had killed 10,000 people.

"During the last two weeks the casualties were so heavy that we were unable to resist the bombing and our defence lines were broken," he said.

BACK

Stop the War

 Make your voice count.