Karzai offers talks with Taliban

[maddezmom]

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday offered peace talks with a resurgent Taliban after the bloodiest year since the hardline Islamists were ousted in 2001 and amid warnings of a violent spring offensive.

More than 4,000 people, including about 170 foreign soldiers, died in fighting last year, a year that saw a dramatic jump in suicide bombings as the Taliban and other militants copy tactics from insurgents in Iraq.

Karzai made the offer while speaking at a religious gathering in Kabul on one of the holiest days of the Shia Islamic calendar, but he did not specifically name the Taliban.


"While we are fighting for our honour, we still open the door for talks and negotiations with our enemy who is after our annihilation and is shedding our blood," he told the crowd at the main Shia religious compound in the capital.

Karzai also said he prayed for the "guidance" of those who plotted against Afghanistan, referring to neighbouring Pakistan where the Taliban and their Islamic allies have sanctuaries.

more: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2007-01-29T102426Z_01_ISL23475_RTRUKOC_0_UK-AFGHAN-RECONCILIATION.xml

[acmavm]

1. Hamid, haven't you been paying attention? We LIBERATED you

from the Taliban.

Get with the program man!

:sarcasm:

[DavidDvorkin]

2. He'll still end up hanging from a lamppost

If/when the Taliban take over again.