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--> --> Mullah Omar says Taliban will exit Kandahar, give up control ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has agreed to leave his headquarters at Kandahar and turn over the southern Afghan city to two local Pashtun leaders, the Afghan Islamic Press said today. The Pakistan-based agency said Omar agreed to leave Kandahar within 24 hours and head for the mountains following discussions with "close friends and army commanders." Under the deal, control of the city will pass to Mullah Naqibullah and Haji Basher, the agency said. The two are locally prominent former commanders of Afghan resistance forces in the war against Soviet invaders and are not members of the Taliban. Basher is close to Yunus Khalis, a Pashtun leader who took over the northeastern city of Jalalabad this week. Pashtuns are Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, and served as the backbone of the Taliban's harsh five-year regime. The report could not be independently confirmed. Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun leader who has been trying to organize a Pashtun uprising in the south, told CNN that the Taliban leaders had no place to go if they left Kandahar. "They will find it very hard to find an escape route," said Karzai, adding that Taliban leaders would be offered amnesty if they surrendered and gave up their weapons. "We have offered them amnesty, of course," he said. "If they do not fight and lay down their arms, they will be saved," he said. He said he had a report from one of his people that there was "serious turmoil" in Kandahar. He said some Taliban troops tried to leave the city to the north and were met by villagers who tried to stop them. Meanwhile, U.S. warplanes struck positions near the Taliban's two principal remaining strongholds today, the first day of Ramadan. In Washington, U.S. officials said Osama bin Laden's military chief was believed to have been killed in an American airstrike. The military chief, Mohammed Atef, was a close confidant of bin Laden, and his daughter was married to bin Laden's son. U.S. officials suspect him of involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as well as the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. The latest bombardment of Kandahar in the south and Kunduz in the north came despite earlier calls from some Muslim nations - including key ally Pakistan - for restraint during Islam's holy month. Pakistan noted the airstrikes were much less intense than in recent days and weeks. "The bombing has been reduced," said Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan, adding that U.S.-led military operations would continue until aims were achieved. Hardline Islamic groups staged small pro-Taliban rallies in major Pakistani cities today, criticizing President Gen. Pervez Musharraf for supporting the United States in the war. Only 800 to 900 protesters turned out in the capital, Islamabad. Even before Ramadan began, U.S. planners had signaled a change in tactics following the rout of the Taliban in much of the country over the past week. American commanders have said that raids will now be more tightly targeted, aimed at bin Laden and the top Taliban leadership. That strategy could be paying off. A U.S. official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was credible evidence that Atef, the No. 3 figure in bin Laden's al-Qaida network, was killed by an airstrike in the capital, Kabul, in the past two days. But another U.S. official said Atef's body has not been located. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, speaking at a news conference in Great Lakes, Ill., said reports of Atef's death "seem authoritative." Previously, Pentagon officials had said some senior Taliban and al-Qaida leaders had been killed in recent days, but they had offered no names. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing