US Rules Out Taliban Negotiations

Jan 04, 2002

WASHINGTON, Friday - The United States will accept only the surrender of Taliban forces holed up in southern Afghanistan and will not authorise

WASHINGTON, Friday - The United States will accept only the surrender of Taliban forces holed up in southern Afghanistan and will not authorise pauses for negotiations that could lead to their going free, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday. Rumsfeld’s comments came amid reports by Afghan intelligence officials that a besieged Taliban commander in Helmand province has offered to hand over the militia’s fugitive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, and have his own forces lay down their weapons if US forces stop bombing. Rumsfeld said no such offer has been made and cautioned reporters that a number of Afghan officials and anti-Taliban commanders were acting on their own to negotiate a deal with Taliban holdouts in Baghran.AFPEnds

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