No formal talks with Taliban: Karzai

Afghan President Hamid Karzai admitted to “individual contacts” with the hardline Islamic group.

WASHINGTON: Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday there are no formal peace talks between his government and the Taliban, although he admitted to “individual contacts” with the hardline Islamic group.

“Of course, there are individual contacts with some Taliban elements – that’s not yet a formal process,” Karzai told ABC television’s “This Week” programme.

The Afghan leader added, however, that there is a “clear” course toward possible future peace talks with the outlawed insurgents. “The roadmap is clear. The indications for peace would be that Afghanistan will be ready to talk to those Taliban powers who belong to Afghanistan and are not part of al Qaeda, who are not part of any other terrorist network, who accept the Afghanistan Constitution and the progress that we have achieved in the past so many years,” he said.

The president said private security firms are “running a parallel security structure to the Afghan government” and “looting and stealing from the Afghan people.”

“I am appealing to the US taxpayer not allow their hard-earned money to be wasted on groups that are not only providing lots of inconveniences to the Afghan people, but actually are in contact with Mafia-like groups.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd, 2010.