Pakistan has sought US and British help in protecting surrendering Taliban soldiers from reprisals to avoid "massacres" that have already occurred in two cities, the state-run media said on Tuesday.
President Pervez Musharraf raised the plight of Taliban fighters besieged in the northern city of Kunduz with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Associated Press of Pakistan said.
Up to 30,000 Taliban, including a hardcore element from the al Qaeda network of suspected terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, are holding out in Kunduz under fierce pounding by US warplanes.
A Taliban commander has said that the militia fighters were willing to surrender the city but only under UN supervision. A spokesperson for the US-led coalition in Islamabad said US or British forces would not get involved.
Bureau Report