Afghanistan’s Taliban rejected President Hamid Karzai’s latest attempt to reach out to them as “futile” and “farcical” on Sunday, but said they were open to talks to achieve their goal of an Islamic state.

“This is not the first time that the Kabul regime and the invading countries want to throw dust into the eyes of the public of the world by announcing reconciliation in words and, in practice, make preparation for war,” said a statement posted in English on the Afghan Taliban’s website, alemarah.info.

“Similarly, they put forward conditions, which are tantamount to escalating the war rather than ending it. For example, they want Mujahideen to lay down arms, accept the constitution and renounce violence. None can name this reconciliation,” it said.

Meanwhile US Special Representative Richard Holbrooke said the United States is not in direct talks with the Afghan Taliban, and any eventual discussions would have to go hand in hand with military success.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, he dismissed media speculation since a January 28 Afghanistan conference in London that there had been secret contacts.

“The press since London has been kind of obsessed with the idea there are all sorts of secret talks going on with the Taliban. So I want to state very clearly that our nation is not involved in any direct contacts with the Taliban.”

“Negotiations and military operations, however you define negotiations, can run in parallel ... (but) success in military operations will affect whatever the discussions are.”

President Hamid Karzai used the conference in London to repeat a call for reconciliation with his “disenchanted brothers” in the Taliban. He has since travelled to Saudi Arabia to ask its leaders for help reaching out to the militants.

Holbrooke said that in principle negotiations and military operations could run in parallel, citing as examples the efforts to end the Vietnam war and the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

Holbrooke added: “We appreciate this (reconciliation) issue, we recognise its importance. It’s long been a missing component of our policy.”

“But it must go hand in hand with security success. It is not an alternative to the military campaign. It requires military success to make progress.”

But the Taliban statement rejected Western support for Karzai’s reconciliation efforts as “an eyewash” designed to convince anti-war voters in the West their leaders want peace, even as they prepare for a new offensive in Helmand province.

President Hamid Karzai called for a halt to military raids on Afghan villages by the international coalition forces and a complete end to civilian casualties.

“We believe that the war on terror is not in the Afghan villages and homes. We believe this war on terror is in the sanctuaries, training grounds and the motivational factors and financial resources beyond the Afghan borders,” Karzai told the annual Munich Security Conference.

Date : 08/02/2010. News by Newsofap.com