23 Taliban militants surrender in Afghanistan

Kabul, June 23: Twenty-three Taliban militants surrendered to the government in Afghanistan’s province of ngarhar on Tuesday, a senior official said. “Two group of local Taliban fighters, including their commanders med Zurmat Khan and Zarin renounced violence and joined government-initiated peace and reconciliation process Tuesday morning,” Xinhua quoted provincial governor Salim Khan Kandozai as saying. The former militants also handed over arms and ammunition in addition to a radio to authorities in ngarhar’s capital Jalalabad, which is 130 km east of Kabul. “With the former insurgents’ surrender, peace and stability would be strengthened in several parts of the province,” Kandozai said. The Afghan government set up a High Peace Council and launched the peace and reconciliation process in 2010 to encourage Taliban to disarm and give up militancy against the government. (IANS)