Taliban Militia Say No Negotiations To Give Up Kandahar

SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan, Tuesday – The Taliban Islamic militia said on Tuesday they remained in control of their southern Afghan heartland and denied negotiations were under way to surrender their stronghold of Kandahar. “Our holy war continues,” Najibullah Sherzai, deputy foreign secretary, told reporters. “There are no negotiations going on in Kandahar. These are lies from people sitting in Quetta.” Pashtun tribal leaders have been trying to broker a peaceful handover of the city to anti-Taliban forces. Sherzai said the Taliban’s spiritual leader Mullah Mohammed Omar remained in Kandahar province. He said the militia were also still in control of the provinces of Zabul, Uruzgan, Helmand and Ghazni despite rival claims by opposition forces. The US had rejected negotiation or surrender, preferring that Omar or al-Qaeda fighters be killed or captured. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Monday, “The United States is not inclined to negotiate surrenders. Nor are we in a position, with relatively small numbers of forces on the ground, to accept prisoners.” US special commandos inside Afghanistan — now numbering a few hundred — have set up roadblocks to block the movement of supplies and trap fleeing Taliban and al-Qaeda troops, and are identifying targets for air bombardment, Rumsfeld said. Central Intelligence Agency operatives also are in the country, and have been “doing a darn good job” in cooperation with the military forces, he said. The Taliban was not bothered by the fact that it had been lost much of Afghanistan, and the Islamic militia would rise to power once more, he said. AFP Ends