Northern Alliance Suspends Offensive On Kandahar

The anti-Taliban Northern Alliance has suspended the offensive, it launched on Friday morning, on Kunduz, administrative centre of Kunduz province neighbouring Tajikistan. Alliance spokesmen claim this was done to regroup the troops. Besides, the Alliance is waiting for reinforcements, multi-barrel rocket launchers in part, to arrive. Other sources say the Northern Alliance is expecting the US to deal more air strikes on Kunduz. Apart from that, the opposition is going to allow the Talibs blockaded in Kunduz to lay down arms and leave the city. On Thursday, 15 trucks carried 200 Talibs out of Kunduz. They all had surrendered to Alliance forces. However, General Daud Khan, in command of the anti-Taliban forces, claimed that Taliban foreign mercenaries, 2 thousand of who are trapped in Kunduz, had wrecked the surrender talks in Mazar-i-Sharif. Controversial reports are coming from Kandahar. On Friday morning, Mullah Omar was reported to have left the city for security reasons having delegated authority to his deputy Akhtar Khakkani. The Taliban leader's personal representative Muhammed Tayeb, however, stated Mullah Omar was still in Kandahar. Local Pashtoon leader Hamid Karzai is reported to be negotiating the surrender of Kandahar with Taliban spokesmen.