[R-G] Taliban reject overture from Afghanistan's government

[Anthony Fenton]

Taliban reject overture from Afghanistan's government
The Associated Press
Published: September 30, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/30/europe/afghan.php

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: The Taliban will "never" negotiate with the  
Afghan authorities until U.S. and NATO forces leave the country, a  
spokesman for the group said Sunday, again rebuffing an overture for  
peace talks from President Hamid Karzai.

Karzai had said Saturday that he would be willing to meet personally  
with the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and give militants a position  
in the government in exchange for peace.

"If I find their address, there is no need for them to come to me,  
I'll personally go there and get in touch with them," Karzai said.  
"Esteemed Mullah, sir, and esteemed Hekmatyar, sir, why are you  
destroying the country?" he said, referring to Omar and Gulbuddin  
Hekmatyar, a former prime minister and factional warlord leader.

Karzai said that if a Taliban group comes to him asking for a role in  
government in return for an end to fighting, "I will accept it  
because I want conflicts and fighting to end in Afghanistan.

"I wish there would be a demand as easy as this. I wish that they  
would want a position in the government. I will give them a position."

But on Sunday, the Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, repeated a  
position he had announced in September, saying there would be no  
negotiations until U.S. and NATO troops had withdrawn from Afghanistan.

"The Taliban will never negotiate with the Afghan government in the  
presence of foreign forces," Ahmadi said. "Even if Karzai gives up  
his presidency, it's not possible that Mullah Omar would agree to  
negotiations. The foreign forces don't have the authority to talk  
about Afghanistan."

Karzai's peace overture came as insurgency-related violence continued  
to climb. Thirty people, mostly army soldiers, were killed in a  
suicide bomb attack on a military bus Saturday in Kabul.

More than 270 have died in violence since Sept. 23, 180 of them  
militants, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from  
Afghan and Western officials.

In the latest violence, insurgents ambushed a convoy of foreign  
troops in eastern Paktia Province on Saturday. After a brief gun  
battle, airstrikes were called in that killed 11 militants, a  
provincial police official said Sunday on condition of anonymity  
because he was unauthorized to speak publicly.

The U.S. coalition said it was not involved in the battle, and NATO  
also did not have any information on the incident.

Another battle in Paktia between the police and militants Saturday  
left one suspected insurgent dead, the police official said.

In neighboring Ghazni Province, coalition forces fought with  
insurgents, killing two Taliban on Saturday in Andar district, said a  
deputy provincial police chief, Mohammad Zaman.

Ghazni is the province where 23 South Korean hostages were captured  
in July. Two of the hostages were killed, and the rest were later  
released after talks between the Taliban and a South Korean  
government delegation.

Military officials said they expected a rise in violence during the  
holy month of Ramadan based on an increase in attacks last year  
during the same period.

The death toll this week includes more than 165 militants killed  
during two battles between the Taliban and joint Afghan-coalition  
forces, and the 30 soldiers and civilians killed in the Kabul suicide  
bombing.

Militant attacks and military operations have killed more than 4,600  
people so far this year, most of them insurgents, according to the AP  
count.