DUSHANBE. Nov 22 (Interfax-AVN) - The Taliban forces still holding Konduz in the north of Afghanistan have agreed to an unconditional surrender, Second Secretary of the Afghan Embassy in Tajikistan Shamsulkhak Orienfar has told Interfax.
This decision was announced by leader of the Konduz group Mullo Dodullo on Thursday morning, several hours before the expiration of the ultimatum on an unconditional capitulation declared by the Northern Alliance, he said.
The Taliban have finally realized that their position is hopeless and that further armed resistance is senseless, the Afghan diplomat said.
He said that under the arms-surrender mechanism, five to eight corridors will be provided to allow the rebels to leave Konduz after they surrender all the weapons under the government forces' strict control.
The government earlier announced that the Afghan citizens who voluntarily surrender to the Northern Alliance will be allowed to go home, while foreign mercenaries will be sent to detention camps.
"The future of the foreign citizens who fought on the side of the Taliban will be decided by the legitimate government of Afghanistan and of the countries that have signed the international convention on combating terrorism," he said, adding that only law can determine the suspected foreign mercenaries' guilt and involvement in terrorism and subversive acts. He also said that Kandahar remains the only center of Taliban resistance to the Northern Alliance in the center and east of Afghanistan.