Taliban foreign minister surrenders

MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghan-istan -- In a major development in the continuing search for fugitive leaders of the former Taliban leadership and al-Qaida terrorist network, the Taliban foreign minister has turned himself in to Afghan officials, U.S. officials in Washington said.

Mullah Abdul Wakil Muttawakil surrendered in Kandahar on Friday and was transferred to the U.S. military base at the city's airport, where he was being held Friday night, Pentagon officials said.

He is the highest ranking official of the country's former ruling militia to surrender, U.S. officials said.

Along with factional fighting, such as the two days of battles that killed more than 60 people last week in the eastern town of Gardez, Afghan-istan's security also is threatened by remnants of the Taliban and the al-Qaida network. The United States has continued to launch attacks against suspected holdouts.

At a news conference Friday in Islamabad, Pakistan, a reporter challenged Hamid Karzai about how long he would tolerate the "futile" attempts to find al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Karzai responded sharply.

"The war against terrorism is not over, ma'am," he said. "We will have to go look for them in their hide-outs, in their caves, wherever they are. The fight against terrorism will go to the very end of it."

Casualty concerns

Concern about civilian casualties in the continuing U.S. campaign has grown recently. Three people unconnected to al-Qaida died in rocket strikes in Paktia province this week, said Ghulam Gilani, a son of regional faction leader Bacha Khan, citing reports of local residents.

It was not clear whether these reports referred to a U.S. missile strike on Monday in which a suspected high-ranking al-Qaida figure was rumored to have died.

More than 50 U.S. soldiers were at the site to investigate, according to Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In Washington on Friday, Myers said planners of the strike were confident that enemy fighters were targeted.

"There were lots of discussions among Central Command and other folks on the target," Myers said. "It was concluded that it was a valid target, and it was struck."

Also Friday, workers labored to clear snow away from the Salang Tunnel, two days after an avalanche blocked the key link between northern and southern Afghanistan and killed five people.

The avalanche trapped about 500 people, many of whom spent more than a day is snow-stranded vehicles in temperatures that plunged to minus-40.