KABUL, Jan. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- A powerful Afghan official from the troubled southeast Afghanistan foresees mass surrender of Taliban remnants to the government side in the near future.

    "In line with the government's reconciliation policy we have contacted the Taliban and their response is encouraging, so I personally predict their mass surrender very soon," Assadullah Wafa, Governor of Paktia province told Xinhua in an exclusive interview conducted at his residence in the provincial capital of Gardez Thursday.

    However, he emphasized those militiamen whose hands were stained with the blood and committed crimes against Afghans and humanity would be brought to justice. However, he declined to list them.

    To stabilize security and extend the central government's authority outward to the countryside, President Hamid Karzai as well as US ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad announced amnesty for Taliban operatives some two months ago, but the offer was rejected by the militant group as a ploy to divide it.

    "A large majority of the Taliban militiamen would soon break away with their leaders and join the government," a confident Wafa asserted.

    Among the remnants of the former Taliban regime who are still alive and at large, according to Afghan officials, some 150 are criminals and associates to the terror network run by Bin Laden-led al-Qaeda group.

    Paktia and the neighboring provinces of Khost and Paktika along the border with Pakistan has been the scene that has witnessed an incessant militancy over the last three years.

    Hundreds of the American troops including 300 in Gardez under the flag of Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) and backed by Afghan soldiers have been stationed there to check the infiltration and militancy in the rugged terrain region. Enditem