Three former Taliban ministers have surrendered to the new government in Afghanistan, it has been reported. Mullah Obaidullah, Mullah Turabi and Mullah Saadudin are reported to have handed themselves in, along with other senior Taliban officials, in recent days.
The one-legged, one-eyed former justice minister Mullah Turabi is unpopular among Afghans for his extreme fundamentalist approach. He was responsible for enforcing laws preventing women from working and requiring men to grow beards.
A spokesman for the governor of the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar insisted that anyone who surrendered would be eligible for an amnesty, except for Mullah Mohammad Omar. The former Taliban leader is believed to be still hiding in the southern Afghan province of Helmand around Baghran.
In a separate development, Tony Blair has become the first western leader to visit Afghanistan since its Taliban rulers were deposed. The British Prime Minister had talks with the country's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, at Baghram air base.
Mr Blair also met troops serving with the international stabilisation force at the air base. He said, at a press conference, that the military campaign against the Al-Qaeda movement would continue until its leader, Osama bin Laden, was found.
He said that he was proud of what the international coalition had achieved in Afghanistan in so short a time. He said that he wanted to demonstrate the international community's commitment to the country.
