Ready to Surrender Taliban Agrees to Surrender Last Southern Stronghold Dec. 6 — Afghanistan's newly appointed interim leader today confirmed that the Taliban had agreed to surrender Kandahar, the hard-line Islamic regime's last stronghold. In a broadcast interview today, Pashtun leader Hamid Karzai said the surrender of Kandahar would begin on Friday and could take up to two days. A day after he was nominated head of Afghanistan's transitional administration, Karzai said he had offered amnesty to Afghan Taliban fighters but he said no such amnesty applied to Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar until the reclusive leader provided clear proof of his intention to "distance himself from terrorism." Karzai also said non-Afghan soldiers fighting for the Taliban would not receive an amnesty. While Karzai did not personally guarantee a safe passage for foreign Taliban fighters, he insisted that non-Afghan fighters "must leave my country." Karzai said he did not know the whereabouts of Omar or Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks. Outside Kandahar today, there were signs of progress for anti-Taliban forces. ABCNEWS was told by a spokesman for Pashtun commander Gul Agha that Afghan tribesmen loyal to him had have taken control of Kandahar airport. Earlier today, Abdul Salam Zaeef, the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, told the Associated Press Taliban leaders had decided to hand over their weapons to Mullah Naqib Ullah, a Pashtun mujahideen leader who briefly controlled the capital of Kabul before the Taliban came into power. Speaking to reporters in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad today, Zaeef said Afghan tribal leaders had agreed to provide Omar protection so that the reclusive one-eyed Taliban leader would be able to "live in dignity" in Afghanistan. But U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today said the United States would not stand for any deal that allowed Omar to remain free. Corroborating Rumsfeld's statement, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer today said President Bush "believes very strongly that those who harbor terrorists need to be brought to justice." Although the Pentagon has confirmed that talks about the surrender of Kandahar were underway, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon would not confirm if Omar was holding talks with Afghan tribal leaders. The decision to cede Kandahar, if it happens, would be an about-face for Omar, who earlier exhorted his troops to fight to the death. But after nearly two months of a punishing U.S.-supported military campaign, the Taliban has been under siege in pockets of eastern and southern Afghanistan. The surrender of Kandahar would mark the fall of the last major Afghan city from Taliban control and would prove a symbolic and geopolitical blow to the hard-line Islamic regime that controlled most of Afghanistan for five years. Rumsfeld: Premature to Talk of Cease-fire Western journalists in southern Afghanistan today reported a lull in U.S. aerial strikes near Kandahar. It was not known if the cessation of bombing was due to the negotiations for the takeover of Kandahar. But responding to questions of a cease-fire in southern Afghanistan today, Rumsfeld told reporters in Washington it was premature to talk about a cease-fire at this stage. U.S. special forces on the ground near Kandahar have been providing support for anti-Taliban troops in southern Afghanistan. During the past few days, U.S. Marines have been positioning themselves to cut off escape routes from Kandahar. Meanwhile, in eastern Afghanistan, there were reports that anti-Taliban troops, aided by U.S. forces, had advanced on a cave complex near the village of Tora Bora, where bin Laden may be hiding. An anti-Taliban commander based near the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad today said 1,500 of his troops had moved into the valleys of Tora Bora and had captured about half the caves in the complex. Anti-Taliban troops said they had recovered the bodies of 22 Taliban fighters loyal to bin Laden. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/STRIKE_MAIN.html
I would be very suspicious of any surrender. Remember the last one? They freakin' surrendeded with hand grenades... rH
rH: The foreigners will probably not surrender. Or, if they come to some sort of agreement to give them passage to Pakistan, our Marines just might set up a little "checkpoint" for them on the way... We can't allow those guys to get out of Afghanistan.
Is the Mullah Omar going to be guaranteed safety? This morning, it looked as if the Northern Alliance was going to give it to him. That's the problem with letting someone else do your fighting for you: they don't always cooperate at the peace negotiations I know casualties suck, but I'd wish there were more marines on the ground.
haven: The Afghans might agree not to kill him, but... We have enough Marines on the ground to fix that little problem. He'd just be in the position of having that many fewer factions out to get him, but he'd still be in the same boat as Osama. And I suspect there are more than a few Afghans who would like to cut his throat regardless of what Karzai tells him.
