| Amid reports that some Taliban leaders were negotiating a surrender of Kandahar, American bombers kept up a steady pounding of Taliban and al-Qaida hideouts in eastern Afghanistan. Abdul Khaliq, one of four Pashtun leaders heading the tribal struggle against the Taliban, said Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, the Taliban hardliner who banned education for women and forced them to wear head-to-toe veils, was leading a group of 20 senior Taliban government and military officials negotiating the city's surrender. |