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Satinder Bindra: Negotiating with the Taliban

CNN's Satinder Bindra

KONDUZ, Afghanistan (CNN) -- U.S. airstrikes resumed Tuesday morning in the Konduz province, the last Taliban stronghold in northern Afghanistan, despite bad weather. Meanwhile, Northern Alliance officials said they are holding talks with the Taliban in that region.

CNN's Satinder Bindra is based near the front lines surrounding Konduz. He filed the following report:

BINDRA: On Tuesday morning, we've seen just two U.S. planes drop bombs very close to us, about two miles away.

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What's also happening here on the front lines is some intense diplomatic activity. Northern Alliance commanders are meeting the trapped Taliban in Konduz. Of course, it's been the Northern Alliance's strategy for several days now to try to engineer defections from the Taliban camp.

So far, they say they've managed to get 1,000 fighters to defect, but most of these Taliban fighters are described as local Taliban fighters. There's also a hard-core element of Taliban fighters -- these are the Chechens, Pakistanis and fighters from Arab countries who are still trapped in Konduz.

These fighters have so far shown little inclination to surrender. In fact, Northern Alliance commanders are telling us that these hard-core fighters are killing those local Taliban commanders who've expressed any interest in surrendering.

Northern Alliance officials say they're going to continue this strategy. They're going to try these negotiations for another few days, and if they don't succeed, then they're going to launch some attacks on Konduz.