Afghan Taleban reject Karzai's latest request for direct talks

Kabul: A spokesman for the Taleban has rejected the request from President Karzai to hold direct talks with the Afghan government and said that this would be a waste of time [Karzai called for these talks in an Afghan government statement released on 21 February].

Zabihollah Mojahed, a spokesman for the group, told Afghan Islamic Press [AIP] over the telephone on 22 February: "The Taleban does not believe in holding talks with the Karzai administration, because the Karzai administration is a powerless and incompetent administration, the puppets of foreigners and totally powerless. Holding talks with the Karzai administration is useless and is a waste of time."

Asked by AIP why Karzai wants to hold direct talks with them, he said: "Karzai on the one hand wants to get assurances for himself by making this kind of request and, on the other, wants to deceive the nation. But you have to understand that Karzai and his allies are not capable of making any decision, because they are controlled by others."

Asked at what stage the talks with the US in Qatar were at, Mojahed said everything there is in its first and initial stage and these contacts are in progress, as in the past." Yesterday, Afghan President Hamed Karzai released a statement demanding that the Taleban leadership hold direct talks with his government, but the Taleban rejected his request and now it does not seem that the Taleban will hold talks with the Afghan government, because the central leadership council of the Taleban has already decided that they will never hold talks with Karzai's government.