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| Afghanistan |
| Karzai offers Taliban leader 'protection' for peace |
| 2008-11-26 |
| Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Wednesday he would protect the fugitive leader of the insurgent Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, in return for peace whether his international partners liked it or not. Karzai reiterated though that the extremist Islamic leader, who is wanted by the United States, would have to accept the Afghan constitution, a pro-democracy document drawn up after the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001. If Mullah Omar announced he accepted the constitution and "asks us to give him protection and support, I, as the president of Afghanistan, based on Afghan customs, will give him protection," Karzai told reporters. Even if the "international community is happy with it or not, I would provide them protection," he said at a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. Scheffer, head of an alliance that leads a military force of nearly 51,000 troops helping Afghanistan fight a Taliban-led insurgency, said peace talks and political reconciliation with the insurgents was an Afghan issue. "I would, of course, applaud reconciliation," he said, adding that military warfare would not end the insurgency in Afghanistan. Nearly 1,000 international troops in a campaign to fight the insurgency have lost their lives in Afghanistan since 2001, as have thousands of Afghan civilians and troops. Mullah Omar is wanted by the United States and has a 10-million-dollar reward out for his capture. Seven years after the ouster of the extremist Taliban regime in a US-led invasion, Afghanistan's security is deteriorating with increasing insurgent attacks and crime leading many Afghans to despair about the future. The increased violence has given new impetus to calls for peace talks with militants who lay down their weapons and reject Al-Qaeda, which is said to support the Taliban and their leaders. But the White House said last week there were no positive signals Mullah Omar is ready to renounce violence. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #1 And who will then protect Karzai? |
| Posted by: ed 2008-11-26 19:50 |