Alliance advances on trapped al-Qaida fighters

Thousands of Northern Alliance troops today advanced on al-Qaida fighters trapped in the surrounded city of Kunduz, and senior commanders said Taliban troops inside the city had agreed to lay down their arms this weekend.

Taliban representatives from inside Kunduz agreed to surrender the city in exchange for free passage to the Taliban’s southern stronghold, and said they would hand over the foreigners among them, alliance commanders said.

In Washington, a US official said the fighters in the besieged city - the last held by the Taliban in the north - may include some of Osama bin Laden’s senior deputies.

After meeting with Taliban representatives, alliance warlord General Rashid Dostum said this evening that the surrender "is settled".

"Tomorrow we will have another meeting to work out the details of the handover," he said. "On Sunday, the Taliban should surrender to us and hand over the prisoners."

Daoud Khan, the Northern Alliance commander on the far side of Kunduz, predicted an even quicker resolution, saying his troops would move toward Kunduz tomorrow to disarm the Taliban and arrest the foreigners Arabs, Pakistanis and others believed to number up to 3,000.

"We will go to Kunduz to disarm the people, because Mullah Fazil promised he would surrender and he promised he will hand over the foreign fighters," he said.

Even as they prepared for the surrender, alliance forces advanced on the city.

Khan, whose forces are pressing Kunduz from the east, said his fighters had moved into the town of Aliabad, behind Taliban front lines. The Taliban fighters there gave up without a fight, he said.

At the same time, Dostum’s fighters approached Kunduz from the west. Dostum said he had sent the fighters only to prepare for the Taliban surrender.

Aside from heavy bombing of Taliban positions by US B-52s, the front lines appeared quiet for much of the day as the attackers learned of the Taliban’s agreement to hand over the city.

According to alliance commanders, the surrender deal would give Taliban fighters from Afghanistan free passage out of Kunduz, but would imprison the foreigners.

They said the foreigners would be placed in camps until the alliance and the US-led coalition can deal with them, but ruled out turning them over to international courts.

"These foreigners have committed criminal acts in our country. We will not hand them over to the United Nations or any other country. They will go on trial in Afghanistan, in our Islamic courts," Khan said.

The United States has insisted that suspected al Qaida members not be allowed to go free as part of any deal.

Statements by front line commanders today indicated the depths of their hatred for the foreign fighters - and the uncertain future that could await those fighters if they surrender.

"If they surrender to the northern alliance, we will kill them all. They invaded Afghanistan," said another officer, Amanullah.

A Taliban spokesman in Kunduz told the Afghan Islamic Press that dozens of people were killed by American bombs today. The report by the private Pakistan-based news agency could not be confirmed.

About 20 miles south of Kabul, Northern Alliance fighters continued an assault on Taliban positions in the rocky, barren hills near the village of Maidan Shahr.

A surrender in Kunduz would leave only one major city - the southern base of Kandahar - in Taliban hands. The Taliban have vowed to fight to defend their spiritual base and the surrounding provinces.