Northern Alliance soldiers advanced on Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters trapped in the city of Kunduz on Friday, amid reports of an impending surrender, while the UN announced a delay to a planned international conference to address the issue of a post-Taliban Afghan government, said reports.
As troops closed in on Kunduz, an American official in Washington said some of the fighters in the besieged city - the Taliban's last major garrison in the north - could be deputies and lieutenants to Osama bin Laden and to the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, according to AP.
According to CNN, the battle for Kunduz continued Friday as US warplanes bombed Taliban positions.
In a sign that that the situation could be nearing an end, however, the militia's commanders in Kunduz agreed to leave the northern city without their weapons in exchange for safe passage guarantees, according to both alliance and Taliban officials, said the agency.
The alliance deal calls for the militia to turn over the Arab, Pakistani, Chechen and other foreign fighters, who will be detained pending an investigation into their links to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network, according to the report.
Earlier reports said these foreign fighters were blocking Afghan Taliban leaders' attempts to surrender, and other accounts said hardliners were executing accused defectors.
The planned surrender could either head off a bloodbath, or lead to one, as there have been reports of mass executions of Taliban allies by Northern Alliance troops following the capture of other cities.
For its part, the White House has released a report documenting what it called "atrocities" committed by the Taliban and bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, according to CNN, which noted that the allegations included media accounts that the Taliban killed eight boys who laughed at soldiers.
As the siege of Kunduz continued, the Northern Alliance's top commander in western Afghanistan said Friday his forces were readying a push to the south, as they launch an offensive to take the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar - two of the last regions under Taliban control, said AP.
Ismaeil Khan, leader of the alliance's western forces, told CNN his troops had already started their battle for Marjeh and Nadali, two towns near the airport in Helmand province.
Just beyond Helmand's border lies the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, where 3,000 alliance forces have been dispatched, aded the agency.
The Taliban have said they will not pull out of Kandahar, as it is their spiritual base and the foundation of their support, which largely comes from the Pashtun ethnic group. Alliance forces have predicted a major battle for the city.
DIPLOMACY HITS OBSTACLES
UN officials, meanwhile, announced a one-day delay in a conference in Germany aimed at paving the way for a new Afghan government following the Taliban's collapse, said AP.
According to the BBC, the UN delay is to allow participants enough time for preliminary discussions and to give people sufficient time to arrive.
AP cited United Nations spokesman Ahmad Fawzi as saying that the meeting would open Tuesday, rather than Monday, because of delays in getting all the participants to the venue in Bonn.
Between 20 and 30 Afghan delegates are expected to attend the talks, which are intended to lead the way to a broad-based coalition for post-Taliban Afghanistan, said the BBC.
According to the French news agency, AFP, the Northern Alliance will dispatch 11 people to the talks.
The head of the alliance delegation, Younis Qanooni, told AFP the delegation would include representatives from the Tajiks, the Uzbeks and the Hazaras, as well as political parties.
UN officials are particularly concerned that any post-Taliban regime have representation for the majority Pashtun ethnic group, rather than being exclusively made up of the ethnic minorities present in the alliance.
For his part, former Afghan king Mohammad Zaher Shah is sending a delegation of eight to Bonn, including two women.
Shah is being backed by some in the West because they believe he can deliver the traditional loyalty of Pashtun leaders.
The king's grandson, Mostapha Zaher, told journalists the Pashtuns would be represented along with other tribal groups, said the BBC.
Meanwhile, the Taliban ambassador in Pakistan, Abdossalam Zayif, dismissed the Bonn gathering as a "political farce" and insisted the militia would not take part, said the news service.
Pakistan, the former patron of the Taliban turned US ally, is insisting on the participation of "moderate" militia leaders, but is opposed by states like Iran, which back the alliance.
UN Deputy Representative to Afghanistan Francesc Vendrell, meanwhile, warned against expecting too much from the conference, said the BBC.
Vendrell said that even though he did not expect an agreement on a new government, he was hopeful that some understandings could later be translated into an agreement, added the news service - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
