Report: Kandahar Taliban begin surrender

12/07/2001

By Associated Press

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Taliban forces began handing in their weapons in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Friday as part of a surrender deal with opposition forces, according to a Pakistan-based news service close to the Islamic militia.

The report, by the Afghan Islamic Press, could not be independently verified immediately. The news service quoted Taliban leaders in Kandahar as saying they had ordered their fighters to give their weapons to a commission made up of Muslim clerics, local tribal elders and some opposition commanders.

Similar surrenders were also taking place in nearby Lashkargah, the capital of Helmand province, the agency said, as well as in several other centers in the region. The surrenders started early Friday morning. In Washington, Haron Amin, a spokesman for the northern alliance, said he was unaware of the report that a surrender was in progress. In Florida, Maj. Ralph Mills at U.S. Central Command declined to comment. The Pentagon has refrained from commenting on most reports of military action until the following day.

The reports come a day after the Taliban agreed to surrender Kandahar, their last bastion and birthplace, if their warriors were not punished and safety was guaranteed to leader Mullah Mohammed Omar who once vowed to fight to the death.

America said it would not accept any deal allowing the cleric to go free.

The deal and apparent subsequent surrender marked the final collapse of the militant movement that imposed strict Islamic rule on Afghanistan for five years.