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Dostam's Northern Alliance Troops Enter Kunduz
ISLAMABAD, Nov. 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Northern Alliance commander Abdul Rashid Dostam's troops took control of the Taliban's northern bastion of Kunduz on Sunday, ending a two-week siege, reported the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP).
The Pakistan-based news agency, quoting unnamed sources, said ethnic Uzbek commander Dostam had sent one of his top officers into the city and had begun dismantling the surrendering Taliban's defenses.
According to a report by Agence France-Presse (AFP), 2,500 Dostam troops had moved into the city overnight Saturday and Sunday morning. Captured Taliban fighters were being shipped west to Dostam's main headquarters in Mazar-e-Sharif.
"The forces of general Abdul Rashid Dostam have entered Kunduz and the Taliban have handed over control of the city," said the report. "The Taliban have started evacuating Kunduz and its suburbs. They are also handing over military positions one after another to Dostam's forces."
AIP, which has close contacts with the Taliban, said Dostam now controlled 70 percent of Kunduz, the Taliban's last stronghold in the north of Afghanistan.
"Dostam is expected to reach Kunduz today," AIP said. It added that his arrival from the west would be a "headache" to his ethnic Tajik allies in the Northern Alliance, who helped besiege the city from the east.
More than 1,000 Taliban troops surrendered from Kunduz on Saturday after days of talks between the warring parties to end the siege and avoid further bloodshed.
But independent estimates earlier indicated that up to 9,000 fighters, including hardcore foreigners believed to be loyal to Osama bin Laden, might remain holed up in the city, according to AFP.
A Northern Alliance commander east of Kunduz said he was waiting for the surrender of other Afghan and foreign troops before entering the city from the north.
"The taking of the city should occur in any case Sunday," said Kadam Shah, who is directing the Alliance's operations on the front around Khanabad, 20 kilometers (12 miles) to the east of Kunduz.
Meanwhile, a top Northern Alliance commander has issued a new warning that his forces will attack the northern Afghan city of Kunduz if Taliban troops still holding out there do not surrender on Sunday, BBC's online news service reported.
General Daoud Khan told reporters at his base in the town of Taloqan that "today is the last day" for enemy troops holed up in the besieged city to hand themselves over. He also claimed that more Taliban fighters had defected overnight, after soldiers started crossing over to opposition lines on Saturday.
In another development, a pocket of 500 fighters holding out against the Northern Alliance near Kabul for four days formally surrendered Sunday, but denied they were Taliban, AFP reported.
Only seven hardcore Taliban fighters were immediately taken prisoner at the village 20 kilometers (12 miles) southwest of Kabul, and the Northern Alliance said they were looking for another eight.
The local village commander described the fighting as "a local dispute."
Although he claimed few deaths in the fighting, more than 100 fresh graves could be seen on the battlefield.
The Northern Alliance had believed there were up to 2,000 Taliban in the area, but Hadji Ghulam Mohammad, the village commander, said all the Taliban fled after the fall of Kabul. "All the people here are local, mainly Pashtun," he said.
They had refused to surrender to the local Northern Alliance faction, but agreed to lay down their arms after negotiating with defense ministry officials who arrived from Kabul Sunday. "It was a local problem. Everybody who had a gun came out to fight," Mohammad said.
He promised to hand over the other eight Taliban members being sought by the Northern Alliance.
The villagers were thought to have been sympathizers of the Taliban, but Mohammad denied this. "They wanted to defend their families. They thought they would be killed." It was not because they were supporters of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. "Now we are together, we want to be at peace."
The Northern Alliance seized a handful of tanks and heavy weapons left behind by the Taliban, but the villagers were allowed to retain their own firearms.
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