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Taliban Ministers of Defense and Justice Surrender (Update1)
Tuesday, January 8, 2002
(12:30)
By Khalid Qayum & Kate Linebaugh
Bloomberg.com

At least 350 al-Qaeda members, including more than 300 Arab nationals, have been arrested in Pakistan after crossing the border, 23 of them last weekend, AP reported.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Bloomberg
Two top officials in Afghanistan's defeated Taliban regime surrendered in the southern city of Kandahar, Reuters reported, citing a spokesman for the city's governor.

Ex-defense minister Mullah Obaidullah and former Justice Minister Mullah Turabi gave themselves up to local authorities, the unidentified spokesman for Governor Gul Agha told Reuters.

“Ministers of the Taliban and senior Taliban are coming one by one and surrendering and joining with us,” Reuters quoted the spokesman as saying.

Neither man has been handed over to the U.S., the Afghan Islamic Press reported. The Pakistan-based agency, citing an unidentified spokesman for Kandahar's intelligence service, also disputed a report that Mullah Saadudin, who had been mines and industry minister, had surrendered.

The defection or capture of high-ranking officials of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network is crucial to U.S. efforts to gain clues to the whereabouts of bin Laden and Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban leader.
(More: Bloomberg.com News Source)
2002 © Bloomberg L.P.

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