Taliban flee, greeted by alliance as brothers

BANGI, Afghanistan -- A trickle of surrendering Taliban became a flood Saturday, and those laying down arms were greeted like brothers by northern alliance fighters besieging Kunduz. It was unclear whether a hard core of foreigners loyal to Osama bin Laden would opt to fight to the finish.

By nightfall Saturday, alliance officials said more than 1,100 Taliban and foreign fighters -- mostly Arabs, Chechens and Pakistanis -- had surrendered under a deal negotiated with the Islamic militia's senior commanders. Some Taliban fighters crossed the front and promptly joined the alliance.

However, thousands of other fighters were believed still in the city, including members of bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network. When the siege began Nov. 12, alliance commanders estimated about 10,000 Taliban and 3,000 foreigners were defending the city -- the last Taliban stronghold in northern Afghanistan.

Suicide attack

The surrenders did not always go smoothly.

In the alliance-held northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, a prisoner awaiting a search detonated a hand grenade, killing himself and two other Taliban soldiers and seriously injuring an alliance officer, according to Britain's ITN News and CNN.

A former Taliban deputy interior minister who defected -- the most senior Taliban defector thus far -- on Saturday held a news conference to say he blamed bin Laden and his foreign fighters as well as hard-line Taliban for bringing on the U.S-led war.

Mullah Mohammed Khaqzar said he warned Taliban supreme leader Mohammed Omar that he should "tell the terrorists to leave" or they "would destroy our country." But Omar fell under the influence of bin Laden, he said.

Under the surrender agreement near Kunduz, Afghan Taliban fighters are guaranteed safe passage out of the city but the foreigners will be arrested pending investigation into possible ties to bin Laden.

The United States had strongly opposed any agreement that would allow the foreign fighters to go free. President Bush launched airstrikes against Afghanistan on Oct. 7 after the Taliban refused to hand over bin Laden for his alleged role in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

On Saturday, U.S. jets bombed an area near the eastern city of Jalalabad, where bin Laden maintained camps.

Shouted 'welcome'

Alliance commanders had expected the surrender of Kunduz to take place this weekend -- and as the day passed, more and more Taliban fighters appeared along front line positions to give themselves up.

Along the eastern front, alliance soldiers shouted "welcome" and embraced and kissed Taliban fighters after they rolled across the Bangi bridge in a convoy of tanks, armored personnel carriers and even taxis -- smeared with mud and dust to camouflage them against prowling U.S. jets.

"We gave up to the northern alliance," said a smiling Taliban fighter, Shah Mahmoud. "They are our brothers, and this is our country. The foreigners will never surrender, I think."