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.
10:33 PST 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 Friday. 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."...doesn't quite jibe with the AFP article. Both seem to be quoting AIP...
ISLAMABAD, 16 nov (AFP) - The mollah Omar ordered the talibans to evacuate Kandahar (southeast of Afghanistan) and to withdraw in the Afghan mountains, indicated on Friday the Afghan Islamic Presse ( AIP ) agency.According to this agency based in Pakistan, the big town of the Afghan South, the fief of talibans and usual place of residence of the mollah Omar, will be evacuated by the fundamentalist militia " within 24 hours ".
So is Mullah Omar in Kandahar or not? This article from yesterday claimed that Omar was in Kunduz...
Mulla Omar is in Kunduz, reliable informed sources
Dushanbe, Nov 15, IRNA -- Taliban leader Mulla Mohammad Omar is in the northern Kunduz province, the deputy ambassador of the Afghanistan Islamic government to Tajikistan Mohyuddin Mahdi told IRNA here Thursday citing reliable informed sources.
He said he was unaware of further details, but reiterated the authenticity of the news could be vouchsafed.