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Leaders on both sides wanted to avoid a bloodbath, so surrender negotiations continued. On Thursday Dawood claimed the Pakistani air force had begun flying planes into Kunduz on Tuesday night to evacuate "military personnel," meaning some of the Pakistani volunteers. Northern Alliance commanders tried to arrange a deal to end the standoff, possibly by flying out more of the foreign Taliban militants, although it was unlikely that the U.S. would allow it. On Saturday U.S. planes bombed Taliban positions around Kunduz from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., the most sustained bombardment in that area since the beginning of the campaign.
For some Taliban members, the campaign was already over. Captured by the Northern Alliance, they were crowded into an eight-cell, dirt-floor jailhouse in Taloqan, where they waited, fearing for their lives. Aziz, a tall, moon-faced Arab warrior in a dirty blue shalwar kameez, squatted on the floor of his cell, pulling at his hair and muttering in Arabic, "Osama bin Laden is God." He repeated it again and again and said nothing else; he was either deranged or doing a good job of pretending. The prison commander, Awaz Mohammed, said Aziz was merely acting that way in hope that his captors would take pity and take no action against him--a sort of ad hoc insanity defense. "These are the gifts that Osama has sent to Afghanistan," said Mohammed.
In the same cell was a timid Pakistani named Mahsood Ali, 22. Three weeks ago, he came from Peshawar with three friends to fight the jihad against the Americans. Now his friends are dead, and Ali hugged his knees to his chest and rocked on the soles of his feet. "I think I made a mistake coming to Afghanistan," he said.