WASHINGTON/KABUL, 3 January — The new Afghan government yesterday said recent American bombings had killed the head of intelligence under the Taleban regime. "Qari Ahmadullah has been killed by US bombs in Zadran district of Khost province," Abdullah Tawheedi, a deputy head of intelligence in the interim administration, told CNN.
Tawheedi said the death occurred two or three days ago as US warplanes continued operations to crush the Taleban for harboring Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network blamed by Washington for Sept. 11 attacks on the United States which killed nearly 3,300 people.
Tawheedi said people had identified the body, and Ahmadullah’s remains had been buried in his hometown in Ghazni province. Tawheedi said Ahmadullah was in the home of Mulla Taha, a well-known Taleban commander, when US bombs hit the house. He said two of Taha’s sons were also killed, but Taha was uninjured.
Meanwhile, a 25-strong team from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Romania met British troops at the force’s headquarters in a dilapidated former sports club in the center of Kabul.
"Today marks the arrival of the multinational party from all the troop-contributing nations that intend to place forces into the International Security Assistance Force," said British Col. Richard Barrons.
In southern Afghanistan, anti-Taleban forces said talks were under way to try to capture the movement’s leader, Mulla Omar, without bloodshed. "We are still in contact with the people there to find a way to end this issue peacefully," said an official working for intelligence chief Haji Gullalai in Kandahar,.
Omar is believed to have taken refuge with 1,500 fighters near the town of Baghran in southern Helmand, a district 160 km (100 miles) northwest of Kandahar.
The United States said it wants the Taleban leader handed over to US authorities should he be captured.
