Taleban set for Kandahar surrender

US forces have been attacking Kandahar day after day

A Taleban spokesman says the movement's leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, has agreed to surrender their last stronghold in Afghanistan, Kandahar, to opposition forces.

The move follows lengthy talks with the country's new interim leader, Hamid Karzai, whose forces are massed some 20 kilometres (12 miles) outside the city.

	BATTLE FOR KANDAHAR 1. Hamid Karzai says his men are on the northern outskirts of the city 2. Gul Agha's forces have been besieging Taleban fighters at the airport 3. US marines based at Dolangi airfield have begun offensive operations

Mr Karzai told the BBC that if Taleban fighters lay down their arms they would be granted an amnesty. The same would apply to Mullah Omar and other Taleban leaders if they renounced terrorism and dissociate from Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, he said.

In Washington, a White House spokesman said the US opposed any amnesty for the Taleban leader, Mullah Omar, adding that President Bush "believes very strongly that those who harbour terrorists need to be brought to justice".

News of the planned surrender followed weeks of resistance by the Taleban in Kandahar, whose leader Mullah Omar had previously ordered his troops to fight to the death against opposing forces backed by US air power.

The Taleban spokesman, Sayed Mohammed Haqqani, told the BBC the Taleban were surrendering the city and the neighbouring provinces of Helmand and Zabol.

Karzai: Offered amnesty for Taleban fighters

He gave no further details but said they wanted a guarantee of the security of Taleban fighters captured in northern Afghanistan.

Hamid Karzai, who is due to take up his new post as interim leader later this month, said the surrender agreement called for opposition commanders Gul Agha and Mullah Naqibullah to collect weapons from the Taleban.

In other developments:

• Uzbek warlord General Dostum says he will boycott Afghanistan's new interim government
• UN Security Council unanimously endorses accord reached in Bonn by Afghan factions to set up interim government but defers decision on multinational security force
• India says a man arrested a month ago was planning acts of terror similar to the 11 September attacks in the US
• The Pentagon investigates whether human error is to blame for a stray US bomb that killed three American servicemen and five of their Afghan allies
• Medecins sans Frontieres says more than 80 Afghan civilians have been killed in US bombing in the Tora Bora area of eastern Afghanistan in recent days

Amnesty concerns

Hamid Karzai said the foreign Taleban fighters were "terrorists and criminals" and must face justice.

As for the Taleban leadership, they must "clearly denounce terrorism" to be granted an amnesty, Mr Karzai said in a BBC interview.

He said he had not discussed the issue with the United States, saying "this is an Afghan question."

The Taleban leader is rarely seen in public

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a news conference in Washington that the US was sticking to its position that Mullah Omar and senior Taleban leaders must be brought to justice.

Mr Rumsfeld did not spell out exactly what he felt should happen to Mullah Omar. However, he added that he did not believe there would be a negotiated end to the situation in Kandahar "that will not be in the interests of the US."

In Islamabad, the Taleban's former ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef suggested the surrender would begin on Friday. He said, "We have agreed to surrender weapons not to Hamid Karzai but to tribal elder Mullah Naquibullah.

"Mullah Omar has taken the decision for the welfare of the people, to avoid casualties and to save the life and dignity of Afghans."

Veteran commander

Mullah Naqibullah, the man to whom the Taleban are reported to be surrendering, is a veteran of the war against the Soviets.

He was the military commander of Kandahar and was a key figure in allowing the Taleban to take control of much of the country.

As news of the surrender agreement emerged, anti-Taleban tribal forces that have been closing in on Kandahar for several days said they were calling a ceasefire.

Witnesses said heavy US overnight raids had caused dozens of casualties on the road from the city to the border town of Spin Boldak.

US officials said American marines, who have been building up a base outside Kandahar, have now moved to offensive operations for the first time. They are helping to cut off roads and communications, and to block possible Taleban escape routes.

BBC correspondent David Loyn says the fall of Kandahar would spell the end of the Taleban.

He says if the surrender takes place, the focus of the conflict will shift to mountains in eastern Afghanistan where hundreds of al-Qaeda fighters are believed to be holed up in caves.