Taliban Spiritual Leader Hiding Near Kandahar

Taliban leader Mullah Omar and his well-armed bodyguards are still hiding near Kandahar, the Northern Alliance's spokesman at the Afghan Embassy in Dushanbe Shamsulkhak Orienfar told a RIA Novosti correspondent on Monday. Some Pashtoon leaders in Kandahar say that the Afghan people should determine Omar's destiny. But Orienfar believes that the countries of the anti-terrorist coalition should also participate in it. However, the Afghan diplomat denied the information of some media that the leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Juma Namangani, who was fighting for the Taliban is sheltering near Kandahar together with Mullah Omar. "Namangani is dead. He was killed during the seizure of Kunduz by the Northern Alliance's forces," the Afghan diplomat stressed.