50 Afghan insurgents switch sides in southern Kandahar

Some 50 Taliban insurgents, including one who said he was a Taliban provincial leader, defected on Monday to the government in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar, a province that has long been a militant stronghold. The 50 men, armed with light and heavy machineguns, arrived at the government compound in Kandahar's Panjwai district carrying the white flag of the Taliban.
"I have realised that the government is not the puppet regime that I was told to fight against," the group's leader Maolawi Abdul Aziz told journalists assembled for the ceremony. He said he had recently been appointed the insurgent, or "shadow" governor for northern Kunduz province, and produced what he said was a Taliban certification of the appointment. He had been due to travel north to take on the post, but decided reconciling would be more "sensible". He did not say why he had changed his mind.
The Taliban could not immediately be reached for comment. Ahmad Wali Karzai, brother of President Hamid Karzai and head of the provincial council, was waiting with the provincial governor to greet the group. The president established a High Peace Council to promote reconciliation with insurgents, and another government body works on reintegrating Taliban foot soldiers to try to end the war in Afghanistan now in its 10th year.