We will leave city, says Taliban commander

The Taliban today claimed to have had positive talks with Northern Alliance leaders in negotiating the surrender of their troops in the besieged city of Kunduz.

The Afghan Islamic Press agency, based in Pakistan, quoted Taliban spokesman Mohammed Gol Zobir, saying he hoped a deal would be reached soon where his troops would leave the city in an orderly manner.

The Taliban comments came after two Taliban commanders from Kunduz met senior alliance commander General Abdul Rashid Dostum in Mazar-e-Sharif to discuss terms.

The Taliban commander of Kunduz, Mullah Faizal, who was attending the talks in Mazar-e-Sharif, also said his forces would surrender.

He said: ‘‘There will be peace.’’

Kunduz, the last Taliban stronghold in the north of country, has been surrounded by Northern Alliance forces for the past week, with the support of American air strikes.

However, there have been a number of reports over the past few days, suggesting a hardcore of fanatical foreign Taliban troops - mostly Arabs and Pakistanis - have vowed to fight to the death and kill any Afghan Taliban who try to surrender.

Earlier, at a news conference in the town of Spin Boldak near the Pakistani border, Taliban spokesman Syed Tayyab Agha vowed the Taliban would fight to the death in the provinces still under their control.

‘‘They have decided to defend the presently controlled areas,’’ he said.

‘‘We will try our best and we will defend our nation. We will not give any chance to anybody to disturb our Islamic rule in Kandahar and other provinces.’’

In other developments, American President George Bush last night rallied 15,000 troops and their families ahead of the traditional Thanksgiving holiday.

He used the speech, in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to warn the war in Afghanistan was not over - and the war against terrorism had only just begun.

‘‘We’ve made a good start in Afghanistan, yet there is still a lot to be done. There are still terrorists on the loose in Afghanistan. And we will find and destroy their network piece by piece,’’ Mr Bush said.

‘‘Wars are not won on the home front alone. Wars are won by taking the fight to the enemy. Americans are not waiting for terrorists to strike again.’’

And he said the next stage of the battle would be fought where the ‘‘fanatics’’ hide ‘‘in sophisticated cave complexes located in some of the most mountainous and rugged territory’’.

American Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also visited troops and said locals in Afghanistan were now searching through caves and tunnels in a bid to secure the $25m price on the head of Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants.

Britain last night stepped up pressure on the US to give the go-ahead for the deployment of thousands of troops into Afghanistan, warning of a humanitarian crisis unless aid routes were secured.

International Development Secretary Clare Short said an international military presence was urgently needed so that aid agencies could get food and other essential supplies into the country in safety.

She warned any further delay in the deployment of an international ‘‘stabilisation’’ force - including 6,000 British paratroops and marines currently on 48-hours’ standby - could result in a ‘‘terrible amount’’ of suffering.

‘‘We need order in order to get a proper humanitarian response,’’ she said.

‘‘We haven’t got a crisis yet but if there was a big delay and a lot of disorder, then we could get a terrible amount of human suffering.’’