Karzai repeats offer for talks with Taliban
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday described peace as the utmost demand of the Afghan people, saying he would repeat his offer for talks with the Taliban to ensure durable peace in the war-torn country.
"If Taliban refuse our offer for talks for million times, we would repeat our offer for million times, because bringing about peace is necessary and this is the prime demand of our people," he told a joint press conference here at the presidential palace.
Hosting the conference with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Karzai made the above remarks amid Taliban's stance that any talks with Afghan administration must be based on the pull out of NATO-led forces from Afghanistan.
The Afghan government has repeatedly offered its readiness for dialogue with Taliban militants in an effort to bring about lasting peace in the country, but the group's elusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has refused the offer, stressing there would be no talks with the Karzai administration in the presence of foreign troops.
The Taliban in response to the troop surge, which was announced by the United States President Barack Obama earlier this month, also vowed to continue resistance until the withdrawal of international troops from the post-Taliban central Asian state.
"If they (Taliban) want foreign troops to vacate Afghanistan, they should negotiate for peace and solve the problem of the country," Karzai said.
The around 100,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is presently stationed in Afghanistan to help stabilize security in the militancy-plagued country.
