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MFSFFWAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2001/12/03/war03.xml&sSheet=/news/2001/12/03/ixhome. html WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Leading Taliban officers 'ready to surrender' By Alex Spillius in Chaman (Filed: 03/12/2001) MORE than 20 high-ranking Taliban figures led by the justice minister were said to be on the verge of surrender yesterday, as opposition forces closed in on Kandahar, the militia's last urban bastion, in the face of fierce resistance. Moving out: US Marines march to the frontline in southern Afghanistan As American bombers pounded the city, United States commanders said the battle might be reaching "culmination point". A senior US marine officer told journalists in southern Afghanistan that he had expected the city to fall last week but the Taliban were still in control. "But you have a lot of forces at play. Opposition groups coming from the north down, from the south-east up, and us coming potentially from where we are," said Major James Higgins. "Everywhere the Taliban are looking [they are under] a lot of pressure, kind of a snake squeezing in on them, and hopefully we can get them out of there in the near future." The marines acknowledged for the first time yesterday that British, German and Australian military liaison officers were working at the airstrip they seized on Nov 25 to co-ordinate coalition forces. A leading anti-Taliban commander, Abdul Khaliq, said he had received reports that the Kandahar governor, Mullah Mohammed Hassan, had been killed during US bombing on Friday. Hassan was a founder of the radical Afghan movement and a confidant of its leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. His death would be a considerable blow to the militia as it struggles to withstand the continued American aerial bombardment. Afghans arriving in Pakistan from the city said the Taliban had ordered that violators of a night time curfew would be shot on sight. Two suspected spies have already been hanged in public. Other travellers reported dozens of civilian casualties from recent air strikes. Last week Omar suffered the defection of the intelligence minister, who may well soon be followed by a mass desertion. Mr Khaliq said he held secret talks with the justice minister, Nuruddin Turabi, in the Pakistani border town of Chaman late last week. The minister said he was ready to capitulate with about two dozen other ministers, members of the Kandahar ruling council or military commanders, who could bring thousands of troops with them. Omar would then be reduced to a few diehard ministers and commanders, in addition to the 4,000 to 5,000 foreign fighters mostly recruited by Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda organisation and now spread across the south of the country. Several thousand Afghan Taliban would also stay loyal and fight to the death. Mr Khaliq, speaking in Quetta, said: "There are a lot of Taliban commanders who don't want to fight opposition groups and who don't support Omar's ideas. I have given guarantees of their safety. "I met Turabi and he agreed with us that we shouldn't fight. He said he would meet friends who agree with him and try to convince Omar [to surrender]." If Omar refuses to compromise, Mr Khaliq expects a delegation from the justice minister, who is now back in Kandahar, to return to the border within the next few days and finalise the surrender. The tribal leaders still hope that the south, the birthplace of the Taliban, can be won with a combination of military pressure and political persuasion. Like the Taliban, they are Pathans, and have appealed to potential defectors on the basis of ethnic unity. Kandahar is now virtually surrounded. The roads north to the capital Kabul, and the western city of Herat are in opposition hands. The main road south to the frontier with Pakistan has been cut. Tribal leaders are loath to engage in too close combat with the Arab and Chechen fighters. They hope that American bombs and marines will do most of the work for them. According to reports the Americans are still awaiting orders. Their mission will focus as much on hunting bin Laden as attacking Kandahar. The opposition has suffered heavy losses in a battle for Lashkargar, the capital of Helmand province, one of three still mostly controlled by the Taliban, while Arab allies of the militia were said to be putting up stiff resistance at Kandahar airport yesterday. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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