PESHAWAR, Nov 19: Uzbek warlord Gen Rashid Dostum announced on late Monday night that his forces have reached an agreement with the Taliban to end the siege of northern Afghan city of Kunduz, however, the Taliban said talks were still underway and had not reached any conclusion yet.

“Negotiations are on and we have not reached any conclusion yet,” Mohammed Gul Zubair, a spokesperson for Haji Mohammad Omar, Governor of Kunduz, told Dawn on satellite phone from the beleaguered northern city that has seen intense US bombings for the last few days.

The CNN quoted Gen Dostum, now controls much of north that he had reached an agreement with the Taliban commanders trapped in Kunduz and that details of the agreement were being worked out. He said the surrender of the foreign fighters among the Taliban was the stumbling block in the agreement.

The Taliban commander, Mulla Mohammed Fazal, had earlier told Dawn that the Taliban were willing to negotiate a deal to lay down arms to a UN-supervised neutral authority, hand over their heavy weapons, surrender foreign fighters to the UN for extradition to their respective countries and appoint a neutral caretaker administration.

He however, had made it clear that the Taliban would not surrender to the Northern Alliance.

The US Secretary of Defence, Donald Ramsfeld, told a Pentagon briefing that the US was not inclined to negotiate surrender. He said it was for the Northern Alliance to work out the agreement.

Mohammed Gul said the Alliance had appointed a two-member team to negotiate the terms of a possible agreement with the Taliban.

The team comprised Engineer Omar and Modeer Etebar. A three-member team would hold negotiations from the Taliban side which included besides Mohammed Gul, a top Taliban commander Noorullah Noori and Mulla Shakoor. The negotiations would begin 10.00am (Afghanistan Time).

The spokesperson said talks with the Alliance were continuing and was hopeful that an agreement would be reached between them to end the siege of Kunduz and avoid bloodshed.

“This is a delicate and sensitive situation,” he said. “There are no problems. All issues have been resolved,” he said when asked whether there were any differences within the Taliban and natives of the Kunduz. “The basic question is how to avert bloodshed and save the people.”