Amid an intensive diplomatic push to get to work on setting up a new Afghan government, US warplanes took to the skies for strikes at Taliban holdouts in Afghanistan`s north, east and south. Individual Taliban commanders were trying to negotiate surrender terms with commanders of the Northern Alliance whose soldiers have surrounded the city of Kunduz - the Taliban`s only remaining holdout in northern Afghanistan. Opposition fighters fired on Taliban positions outside Kunduz, while American planes pounded the front lines from the air.
Alliance troops for the past several days had maintained their encirclement of the city without firing on the defenders, but on Monday they used two tanks, two artillery pieces and a multiple rocket launcher to fire on Taliban positions in the hills. Foreign fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden are said to be preventing Taliban defenders from giving up the fight.
From Pakistan, Arab countries and Chechnya, these are either paid fighters or volunteers to the cause.
As such, they are considered a greater enemy than local Taliban fighters, many of whom were forced to fight for the Taliban. At least 20-thousand Taliban fighters could still be in the Kunduz area.
Bureau Report