Mullah Omar Supporters Ready To Hand Him Over

KABUL, Thursday- Supporters of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar have agreed to hand him over to Afghan authorities if the US bombing campaign is halted, an intelligence official said on Thursday. Taliban commander Abdul Ahad, better known as Rayes Baghran, said he would also surrender along with his force of up to 1,500 men, said Nasratullah Nasrat from Kandahar’s provincial intelligence services. “Rayes Baghran promised today that he will hand over Mullah Omar and (his fighters) will lay down their weapons if the aerial bombardment is halted,” Nasrat told AFP by telephone. The commander, who is based in the mountainous Baghran district of southern Afghanistan, made the offer at a shura, or meeting of tribal elders, in Helmand province on Thursday, Nasrat said. Baghran told the shura that his fighters included Taliban militiamen who have fled from other parts of Afghanistan, as well as some members of the al-Qaeda terrorist network of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden. “Baghran district had been heavily bombarded, which is why they are talking of the surrender of their weapons and the handover of Mullah Omar,” Nasrat further said. “Inshallah (God willing) we may get to an agreement because they have no other way. They have been absolutely blockaded and besieged.” The shura has been meeting for the past three days in a bid to avert bloodshed as Afghan forces move to crush the remaining pockets of Taliban and al-Qaeda resistance in southern Afghanistan. Haji Gulalai, chief of intelligence in Kandahar province, said earlier this week that Omar’s fate was being negotiated with his supporters, but if the talks failed a massive raid by some 4,000 to 5,000 Afghan soldiers, backed by troops from the US-led coalition, would be launched. Omar, who has been on the run since the Taliban were defeated on December 7, is wanted by US authorities for harbouring bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 terrorist atrocities in the US. Earlier Thursday, some 800 Afghan troops launched an operation to hunt down al-Qaeda fighters in eastern Nangarhar province, and were meeting no resistance, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said.The Pentagon said on Wednesday that rounding up al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders remained a primary goal in the US campaign. “We’ll use whatever resources — in a very forward leaning manner — whatever resources it takes to get them, including special operation forces,” said a Pentagon spokeswoman.Afghan officials have said the Taliban’s former intelligence chief, Qari Ahmadullah, was killed with up to 50 of his men in a US bombing raid on Monday, but the Pentagon said it had no “proof positive” of his death. The deployment of the international peacekeeping force for Afghanistan has begun in earnest, with the arrival on Wednesday of the first French troops and an advance party of officers from 12 nations. A further 60 British officers were set to arrive in Kabul spokesman Major Guy Richardson said. AFPEnds