Taliban Agreed to Surrender to Northern Alliance

The Commander of the Northern Alliance announced yesterday that the Taliban troops in Konduz, isolated for about a week from the main forces of the Taliban in the South, agreed to surrender to the Northern Alliance.

Northern Alliance commander Makmoud Safdar who had led the negotiation with the Taliban said, "we reached an agreement with Deputy Defense Minister of the Taliban Mullah Fazil last night. About 97 percent of the Taliban troops will lay down their arms and we will enter Konduz today."

New York Times reported yesterday that 3000-6000 Muslim volunteers from Pakistan and other countries are in Konduz and they are requesting for a safe route to return to Pakistan.

The U.S. air fighters continued to strike caves in the southern area of Afghan that are suspicious of refuges of the Taliban and Al Qaeda and hundreds of the U.S. special forces are chasing the trace of bin Laden. In addition, the U.S. warships are engaged in a massive check and search operation on the commercial ships that depart from Pakistan to block the escape route of bin Laden.

U.S. Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld said, "bin Laden would rather be killed than be arrested." A Saudi Arabian daily reported that bin Laden ordered his aides to kill him when he is in danger of being arrested.

U.S. spokesperson Richard Baucher revealed that `100 day project for the reconstruction of Afghanistan` in which nations and international organizations all over the world will participate will begin soon. For the project, about 10 billion dollars will be sponsored for next ten years.

In the meantime, an Iranian state-run radio broadcasted that 3 foreign reporters were killed on the way from Jalalabad to Kabul in Afghanistan, Nov. 21. Detail information about why and who killed them was not released immediately.

Gee-Hong Lee sechepa@donga.com