JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: In Northern Afghanistan meanwhile, the struggle for the control of the key city of Kunduz was waged more on the diplomatic front than on the battlefield today. CNN's Satinder Bindra is on the frontlines near Kunduz.</s>SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It's very cold and it's very cloudy on the frontlines today and that's perhaps restricting U.S. planes from dropping bombs on frontline Taliban positions. Since morning, we've seen just two U.S. planes drop bombs very close to us, about two miles away from us. Now what's also happening here on the frontlines is some intense diplomatic activity. Northern Alliance commanders are meeting the Taliban, the trapped Taliban in Kunduz. Of course, it's been the Northern Alliance's strategy for several days now to try and engineer defections from the Taliban camp. So far they say they managed to get 1,000 Taliban fighters to defect, but most of these Taliban fighters are described as local Taliban fighters. There's also a hardcore element of Taliban fighters. These are the Chechans, the Pakistanis, and fighters from Arab countries who are still trapped in Kunduz. Now these fighters have so far shown a little inclination to surrender. In fact, Northern Alliance commanders are telling us that this hardcore group, these hardcore fighters are killing those local Taliban commanders who have expressed any interest in surrendering. Now the Northern Alliance says it's going to continue this strategy. It's going to try with these negotiations for another few days, and if they don't succeed, then it's going to launch some attacks on Kunduz. Satinder Bindra, CNN, on the frontlines near Kunduz.
Northern Alliance Commanders Meet With Taliban in Kunduz