| Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, November 19, 2001 |
N. Alliance Issues Ultimatum on Taliban Forces in Kunduz |
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The Northern Alliance has issued an ultimatum on Taliban forces in the northernAfghan city of Kunduz to surrender before midnight Sunday or face "elimination."
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The Northern Alliance has issued an ultimatum on Taliban forces in the northernAfghan city of Kunduz to surrender before midnight Sunday or face "elimination."
About 20,000 to 30,000 armed Taliban forces are reported to have retreated to Kunduz, some 50 kilometers south of the Afghan-Tajik border, following their losses in Kabul and other major cities.
Taliban forces, which are surrounded by Northern alliance troops, have also been subjected to air raids by U.S. B-52s in recent days.
Also on Sunday, a Russian advance team headed by special envoy Alexandr Oblov left here for Afghanistan, where it will hold meetings with former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani and other government officials.
On Saturday, the team, which includes 17 ranking officials from the Russian Foreign, Defense and Emergency Situations Ministries, met with Tajik officials, and the Russian and Afghan Ambassadors here, local news media reported.
The mission of the team is to establish direct contacts with the "lawful government" of Afghanistan headed by Rabbani, which has reportedly set up shop in Kabul and assumed the functions of anew administration.
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