Taliban leaders 'holding talks' on surrender terms

More than a dozen senior Taliban figures – possibly including the former supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar – are negotiating terms for their surrender, according to Afghan officials.

Representatives of Gul Agha Shirzai, the governor of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, are said to be in discussion with about 15 of the fugitives. The negotiations may have been spurred by the surrender last week of the former foreign minister Mullah Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, who is currently being questioned by the Americans.

Mr Agha's spokesman, Khalid Pashtun, said the surrender of the Taliban leaders "might take a week or two or three or four". He added: "They are just talking with us ... We haven't reached that level yet. We are trying to convince them that they will be treated with dignity and honour."

Mr Pashtun refused to identify the Taliban leaders but said "it is possible" some were cabinet ministers. The Los Angeles Times reported that Mullah Omar – who has been on the run since the fall of Kandahar two months ago – might be among those about to give themselves up.

Mr Muttawakil is the most senior member of the former regime currently in custody. He is being questioned by the US authorities at their base at Kandahar airport, though his eventual fate is far from certain.

America believes that Mr Muttawakil and other senior Taliban figures might have information on the whereabouts of the al-Qa'ida leader, Osama bin Laden. In a recent interview, the interim administration's interior minister, Younous Qanooni, said he believed Mr bin Laden and Mullah Omar were still alive.

Mr Qanooni said Mullah Omar was living in the southern Helmand province, protected by his tribe, and that Mr bin Laden was in the Afghan-Pakistani border region. Pakistan has sent troops to the border and maintains there is no evidence Mr bin Laden has entered its territory. Mr Qanooni claimed that up to 50,000 Taliban activists were still in Afghanistan, protected by various tribes. He said: "Most of them have shaved their beards and changed the shape of their turbans."

At a security meeting at his headquarters, Mr Shirzai said he was confident that Mullah Omar would not remain at large much longer. He added: "Our efforts [in] searching for Mullah Omar are continuing, and soon you will learn about his surrender too."

Mr Muttawakil's surrender was a secret operation. Kandahar's police chief, military commander and chief of military intelligence acknowledged that they had not been informed of it either before or immediately afterwards.

The Pentagon, as well as Mr Shirzai, confirmed that Mr Muttawakil surrendered to Afghan authorities, not to US forces as had been reported.

¿ The so-called American Taliban, John Walker Lindh, pleaded not guilty yesterday to a 10-count indictment that includes charges of conspiring to kill Americans abroad. Mr Lindh, 20, from California, is accused of conspiring to kill Americans abroad, including civilians and military personnel, engaging in prohibited transactions with the deposed Taliban government, and conspiring with and aiding the Taliban and al-Qa'ida.