US holding talks with Taliban: Karzai

AFGHANISTAN: The United States is holding talks with the Taliban, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday, in the first official confirmation of such contacts after nearly 10 years of war.

Although diplomats and officials say talks are at a very early stage, Karzai’s remarks highlight the increasing focus on finding a political solution in Afghanistan as foreign combat troops prepare to pull out by 2014.

“Talks with the Taliban have started... the talks are going on well,” Karzai said, addressing a conference in Kabul. “Also foreign forces, especially the United States, are carrying out the talks themselves.”

But the problems surrounding any reconciliation bid were thrown into sharp focus shortly afterwards when nine people died as three Taliban attackers armed with suicide vests and machine guns stormed a Kabul police station.

A British soldier was shot dead in an insurgent attack, the defence ministry said, while France confirmed one of its troops was also fatally wounded by militant gunfire.

The militants have consistently rejected any efforts to talk peace in public statements. “We have already said this and have repeated it many times. We have no negotiation with the United States and we deny any report as such,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP.

A US State Department spokeswoman in Washington had “no comment” on Karzai’s statement. “However, we have consistently supported an Afghan-led process of reconciliation,” spokeswoman Megan Mattson told AFP.

Kabul, Sunday, AFP