Talks On Surrender Of 30,000-Strong Grouping Of Taliban In Kunduz Province Failed

The talks on surrender of the 30,000-strong grouping of the Taliban in Kunduz province with UN representatives have failed, the WAM agency of the Emirates reported. One of the leaders of the Taliban, Mullah Said, with the mediation of the elders of the local tribes, handed over a plan including five items, which envisages that the encircled grouping will lay down arms and surrender to the representatives of the United Nations or of the Red Cross and Crescent international organisation, while a neutral governor will be appointed in the province. The plan was rejected by the command of the antiTaliban alliance's forces. The plan provided for guaranteeing the life of about 10,000 foreign militants - Arabs, Pakistanis, Uzbeks, Chechens, Uigurs and Bangladeshis - who are fighting on the Taliban's side in Kunduz and Khanabad. As commander of the Tulukan front of the Taliban Mullah Fazil said, as a result of the US air strikes and of the artillery fire of the Northern Alliance's forces, about 800 people perished in Kunduz and 250 in Khanabad on Saturday and Sunday alone. On Friday commander of the forces of the alliance General Muhammed Daud Khan presented the Taliban with an ultimatum demanding that they lay down arms within two days, having promised amnesty to the Afghans but having excluded the foreigners. The USA is backing the alliance's demand of unconditional capitulation of the Taliban in Kunduz province.