Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld rejected outright any negotiated surrender of the besieged Afghan Taliban stronghold of Kandahar in exchange for amnesty for Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. Kandahar remains the key holdout of Omar and Taliban troops in southern Afghanistan, but the anti-Taliban forces are negotiating for its surrender even as Omar has ordered his surrounded troops to fight on.
"I can assure you that the United States would vigorously oppose any idea of providing him amnesty or safe passage of any type," Rumsfeld said at a news briefing.

He made clear that the United States intended at some point to conduct military trials for any captured leaders of fugitive Osama bin Laden`s al Qaeda guerrilla network, accused by Washington of the Sept. 11 attacks on America, and to hold the Taliban leadership responsible for harboring bin Laden. Bureau Report