Front Page
Mullah Omar to give up Kandahar
By B. Muralidhar Reddy
ISLAMABAD, DEC. 6. The collapse of the Taliban appears to be complete this evening with the militia agreeing to surrender tomorrow the last of its main stronghold, Kandahar, to the local tribal leaders.
The former Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Saleem Zaeef, who confirmed the news of an agreement with the local tribal leaders, maintained that the Taliban supremo, Mullah Mohammed Omar, took the decision in the larger interest of Afghanistan people.
Mullah Zaeef said under the agreement with the local leaders, Mullah Omar would enjoy protection. But the guarantee is not likely to go down well with the U.S.-led coalition which is determined to take Mullah Omar hostage. The decision of the Taliban to give up Kandahar would mean the end of the militia as a political force, at least for the time being.
The decision to give up Kandahar did not exactly come as a surprise as the U.S. coalition spokesman, Ambassador Kenton Keith, earlier in the day had given enough indications about the plans of Mullah Omar. Mullah Zaeef said the handover would begin on Friday and that Mullah Omar would be allowed to stay in the city under tribal protection. The militia has decided to surrender to Mullah Naqib Ullah, a former commander against Soviet invasion in 1979.
``We have agreed to surrender weapons not to Hamid Karzai but to the tribal elders,'' Mullah Zaeef said. ``Mullah Omar has taken the decision for the welfare of the people, to avoid casualties and to save the life and dignity of Afghans.''
`Taliban is finished'
Mullah Zaeef agreed with the observation of a journalist that the Taliban was finished as a political movement. ``I think we should go home,'' he said.
The new chief of the interim administration in Afghanistan, Mr. Hamid Karzai, was quoted on Wednesday as saying that his administration intended to grant general amnesty to all Taliban prisoners in Afghanistan. ``I don't know about the guarantees, but Mr. Karzai and the tribal leaders have promised him protection,'' Mullah Zaeef said.
However, the U.S.-led coalition here claimed that he (Mullah Omar) is ``negotiating to save his own skin''. The U.S.-led Coalition Information Centre spokesman, Ambassador Kenton Keith, told a news conference here that the reports about surrender negotiations by Mullah Omar should be taken seriously. At the same time, Mr. Keith made it clear that in the event of surrender by Mullah Omar, the coalition forces would like to take him into custody and interrogate him. ``As some one who has sheltered Osama and the Al-Qaeda, Mullah Omar comes in the category of criminals''.
Asked about the reported statement of Mr. Karzai on general amnesty in Afghanistan, Mr. Keith said that there was a clause in the Bonn Agreement for apprehending all the `criminal' elements. Mr. Keith said there was no reason to change the clause.
He argued that if Mullah Omar was prepared to privately to bargain for himself, there was no justification for sending others to death or using civilians as human shields in a war he cannot win.
``Fellow-travelers who supported the Taliban can now see where this has led. The cost in human suffering has been appalling for Afghanistan and through the export of terrorism, for the whole world. It is the end not just for the Taliban regime but for the idea that one extreme perversion of their religion should negative all others'', he said.Mr. Keith said Mullah Omar and Osama could still cause death and destruction and maintained that the prolongation of war was a desertion of their duty to the Afghan people.
G>``It is selfishness beyond belief. Why should others die for a cause that has been caused abandoned by all but those who cannot see the writing on the wall and possibility even by Mullah Omar himself''? >He said the message was clear. Those holding out should lay down their arms and leave the Afghan people to get on with building their own future free of Taliban repression.He claimed that Taliban soldiers had deserted in droves and thousands had defected.
``And it is not just ordinary fighters who are deserting. I can tell you authoritatively that some of Mullah Omar's most senior commanders are negotiating their own surrender''.When asked about the dissenting voices from within a section of the Northern Alliance to the Bonn Agreement, Mr. Keith said that there was nothing extraordinary about the development. He stuck to the view that the Bonn Agreement was a remarkable achievement and said many obstacles could be expected in the implementation of the accord. Quoting a Taliban spokesman, the Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said that Mullah Omar had agreed to surrender Kandahar. ``Mullah Omar has decided to hand over Kandahar to Mullah Naqibullah,'' said the spokesman.G>
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Front Page
|
