| Talks to secure a peaceful handover of Kunduz collapsed, setting the stage for a possible battle involving thousands of foreign Taliban troops believed to be trapped there. American aircraft struck Taliban positions outside the city for the first time, and Northern Alliance commanders decided that they would move into the city, which its troops had surrounded. Pakistan denied reports that two of its passenger planes made flights to the city to evacuate Pakistan army troops. A senior Taleban emissary has gone to Islamabad to beg the United Nations to accept the surrender of between 15,000 and 20,000 Taleban fighters trapped in the province. |