Talks with the Taliban confirmed
Source: Agencies |
October 12, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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AFGHANISTAN President Hamid Karzai has confirmed that his government has been in informal talks with the Taliban on securing peace in the war-weary country "for quite some time" - the latest in a series of high-level acknowledgments of contacts with the insurgent group.
Meanwhile, Britain's prime minister said yesterday that a female aid worker may have been killed by American forces during a failed rescue attempt on Friday, instead of by her captors as previously announced.
Unofficial discussions have been held with Taliban representatives over an extended period, Karzai said in an interview with CNN's Larry King.
"We have been talking to the Taliban as countryman to countryman," Karzai said.
"Not as a regular official contact with the Taliban with a fixed address, but rather unofficial personal contacts have been going on for quite some time."
Afghan presidential spokesman Waheed Omar said it was not the first time Karzai had acknowledged talks, saying both the president and his office have repeatedly confirmed unofficial discussions. "He has talked about it in the past as well. It's not hidden from anyone," Omar said.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron said NATO's top commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, told him that Briton Linda Norgrove, 36, was possibly killed by a grenade detonated by a member of the US rescue team.
Norgrove died in eastern Kunar province after being abducted two weeks earlier along with three Afghan colleagues who were later released. Six kidnappers also died in the rescue attempt.
Also yesterday, Taliban fighters ambushed a military supply convoy.
The convoy was being guarded by Afghan military contractors as it traveled through Ghazni province on its way to Kandahar. Eight insurgents were killed and two Afghan security contractors wounded during the gun battle.
And NATO said yesterday it was investigating the deaths of two civilians in southern Afghanistan on Sunday. Initial reports indicated they died in a NATO airstrike called in after a patrol was attacked by insurgents in Kandahar.
Meanwhile, Britain's prime minister said yesterday that a female aid worker may have been killed by American forces during a failed rescue attempt on Friday, instead of by her captors as previously announced.
Unofficial discussions have been held with Taliban representatives over an extended period, Karzai said in an interview with CNN's Larry King.
"We have been talking to the Taliban as countryman to countryman," Karzai said.
"Not as a regular official contact with the Taliban with a fixed address, but rather unofficial personal contacts have been going on for quite some time."
Afghan presidential spokesman Waheed Omar said it was not the first time Karzai had acknowledged talks, saying both the president and his office have repeatedly confirmed unofficial discussions. "He has talked about it in the past as well. It's not hidden from anyone," Omar said.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron said NATO's top commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, told him that Briton Linda Norgrove, 36, was possibly killed by a grenade detonated by a member of the US rescue team.
Norgrove died in eastern Kunar province after being abducted two weeks earlier along with three Afghan colleagues who were later released. Six kidnappers also died in the rescue attempt.
Also yesterday, Taliban fighters ambushed a military supply convoy.
The convoy was being guarded by Afghan military contractors as it traveled through Ghazni province on its way to Kandahar. Eight insurgents were killed and two Afghan security contractors wounded during the gun battle.
And NATO said yesterday it was investigating the deaths of two civilians in southern Afghanistan on Sunday. Initial reports indicated they died in a NATO airstrike called in after a patrol was attacked by insurgents in Kandahar.
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