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Karzai Says Omar Must Face Justice if Evidence Links
QUETTA, Pakistan, Dec. 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, must be brought to justice if evidence is presented of his association with terrorism, Afghanistan's leader-in-waiting, Hamid Karzai, said Friday, news agencies reported.
"If there is evidence against him, he must face justice," said Karzai, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Taliban spokesman, Abdul Salam Zaeef, said Thursday that the militia had agreed to surrender their stronghold of Kandahar only on the condition that Omar would not be put on trial.
Karzai, who negotiated the surrender of the province, also said that Omar "must renounce terrorism," without specifying what action would be taken if he failed to do so. A general amnesty for the Taliban was only applicable to "common Taliban", Karzai added.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday that the United States would insist on punishment for senior Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders but not necessarily that they be turned over to face U.S. justice.
"If you're asking would an arrangement with Omar where he could, quote, 'live in dignity' in the Kandahar area or some place in Afghanistan be consistent with what I have said, the answer is no," Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon briefing. "We are interested in seeing that they be punished and that they stop doing what they have been doing," he added.
But as some Taliban fighters began laying down their weapons Friday, it remained unclear whether Omar's sudden and surprising surrender would be enough to save him.
The United States has warned that it will not go along with any arrangement which allows Omar, known as the Amir-ul-Momineen, or "Commander of the Faithful," to remain free.
Rumsfeld's vaguely stated conditions appeared to give Afghan opposition leaders latitude in negotiating the Taliban's surrender of their southern stronghold of Kandahar and supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
"At least at this moment, I have not seen or heard anything that would suggest that anyone is negotiating something that would be contrary to what our interests are," Rumsfeld said.
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