 A senior member of the ousted Taliban movement has surrendered, the latest in a series of defections to Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government by Taliban commanders. Mofti Habibur Rahman, chief of the criminal department at Taliban's interior ministry, also said other high-level and low-ranking Taliban officials inside and outside Afghanistan would take advantage of a government amnesty offer. "The reason is that we now have an elected and legitimate government," Rahman told reporters on Saturday after surrendering to local authorities in Khost, the southeastern province near the order with Pakistan which is a hotbed of Taliban activity. When asked if Jalaluddin Haqqani, the top Taliban commander for the southeastern region would also give himself up, Rahman said: "I cannot say this because of security reasons." He said other Taliban officials who were prepared to join the government were living in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
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