11.30 - by PATRICK COCKBURN and ANDREW BUNCOMBE
GHAZNI/WASHINGTON - The military campaign in Afghanistan entered its endgame yesterday after the Taleban leader offered to surrender the former regime's final stronghold and give himself up to opposition forces.
Mullah Mohammad Omar, who had previously urged his forces to fight to the
death in defence of Kandahar, agreed to hand over the Taleban's weapons to opposition fighters who could enter the southern Afghan city as early as today.
The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said the development was "a total vindication of the strategy...worked out from the beginning".
But despite the apparent breakthrough that would avoid a much –anticipated bloodbath in a fight for the southern Afghan city, it was clear last night (this morning NZT) that the offer of surrender and the handover of arms was not a 'done deal'.
Though Hamid Karzai, the man appointed earlier this week to head the country's new government, offered protection to Mr Omar if he "renounced terrorism", the US forcefully insisted it would not agree to an amnesty or any deal that allowed to remain free and "live in dignity".
The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, warned the opposition not to cut any such deal with the Taleban leader and threatened to drop its support if it did so.
"To the extent that our goals are frustrated and opposed we would prefer to work with other people," he said.
"Our cooperation and assistance with those people would clearly take a turn south if something were done…that is inconsistent with what I have said."
Negotiations for a possible surrender of what has been the Taleban's military and spiritual stronghold have been going on for at least two weeks. Mr Karzai, the Pashtun commander appointed earlier this week to head a 30-members interim administration, said the Taleban had finally offered to hand over their weapons to two opposition commanders – Mullah Naqib Ullah and Sher Agha.
"[The] Taleban have agreed to surrender Kandahar and to hand over power to me'' Mr Karzai told CNN. "In return we have offered them amnesty and that they can go to their homes without any trouble. I have offered amnesty to the common Taleban."
The deal was confirmed by the Taleban's former ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, who accepted that the former regime was now finished as a political movement. He said it was time to "go home".
He added: "We have agreed to surrender weapons not to Hamid Karzai but to tribal elders. Mullah Omar has taken the decision for the welfare of the people, to avoid casualties and to save the life and dignity of Afghans."
In London, Mr Blair said: "This is a very fast-moving situation. It seems that the final collapse of the Taleban is now upon them. That is a total vindication of the strategy that we have worked out from the beginning."
But Mr Blair refused to comment on what was rapidly emerging last night as a possible stumbling block to the surrender deal – the fate of Mr Omar.
He said that he had nothing to add to what the White House had already said. The Bush administration has long made it clear that it will not tolerate a deal that would grant amnesty to the man it holds at least partly responsible for the 4,000 or more civilian deaths suffered on September 11.
Yesterday Mr Rumsfeld claimed that the position had not changed.
"We have expressed very firmly what our previous views are and what our goals are," he said. "I have not seen anything or heard anything that [suggests] anyone is negotiating anything that is contrary to what our interests are."
The President's spokesman said Mr Bush believed "very strongly that those who harbour terrorists need to be brought to justice".
Asked what that meant in respect to Mr Omar, he added: "The President has left that undefined."
In eastern Afghanistan the hunt continued for Osama bin Laden and members of his al Qaeda network. Opposition forces said they had captured a number of hills in the cave-riddled Tora Bora region south of Jalalabad and killed 22 foreign fighters loyal to bin Laden.
Mohammad Amin, a spokesman for Hazrat Ali, the local commander leading the hunt for Mr bin Laden, said the Saudi dissident may have fled. "We found the bodies of 22 foreign supporters of Osama in a couple of caves and areas which we took overnight and yesterday afternoon,'' he said.
"We believe that Osama may have already left Tora Bora for the Spin Ghar mountains."
In London, Mr Blair's spokesman said the government was getting persistent reports that Ayman Zawahri, bin Laden's Number Two, had been killed. The Independent reported earlier this week that he had been either killed or wounded as a result of US bombing in the Tora Bora region.
- INDEPENDENT
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11.30 - by PATRICK COCKBURN and ANDREW BUNCOMBE
GHAZNI/WASHINGTON - The military campaign in Afghanistan entered its endgame yesterday after the Taleban leader offered to surrender the former regime's final stronghold and give himself up to opposition forces.
Mullah Mohammad Omar, who had previously urged his forces to fight to the
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