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| Afghanistan |
| Karzai announces peace talks as Afghans take over security |
| 2013-06-19 |
| [Pak Daily Times] The Taliban opened a political office in Doha on Tuesday, as Washington said it hoped to begin talks with its Afghan foe in the Qatari capital "in a couple of days." The group, which has waged a deadly insurgency against US-led troops ever since its government in Kabul was tossed after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, pledged it would never allow Afghan territory to be used to threaten a foreign country. Taliban representatives and Qatari officials opened the "political bureau of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" in Doha, an AFP photographer reported. The office is intended to open dialogue with the international community and Afghan groups for a "peaceful solution" in Afghanistan, office front man Mohammed Naim told news hounds in Doha. Afghanistan peace talks between representatives of the United States and the Taliban will take place on Thursday in Doha, a senior US official said on Tuesday. The Taliban, whose Kabul government was targeted in 2001 because it sheltered now slain al Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse... , said it would not allow Afghan soil to be used as a launchpad to pose a similar threat again. "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan doesn't want any threats from Afghanistan soil to other countries, and neither permits anyone to threaten other countries using Afghanistan soil," the group said. "We support a political and peaceful solution that ends Afghanistan's occupation, and guarantees the Islamic system and nationwide security." Earlier, Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... , Afghanistan president on Tuesday said that Kabul will send a team to Qatar for peace talks with the Taliban. Karzai was speaking following a ceremony in which the international coalition marked the beginning of the end of the handover of security to Afghan forces. "Afghanistan's High Peace Council will travel to Qatar to discuss peace talks with the Taliban," Karzai said in Kabul, referring to the council he formed in late 2010. "We hope that our brothers the Taliban also understand that the process will move to our country soon," Karzai said of the fundamentalist Islamic group that ruled the country with an iron fist from 1996 to 2001. |
| Posted by:Fred |