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Peace council head is obstacle to Afghan talks - Taliban

by Reuters
Monday, 11 October 2010 02:16 GMT

(For more on Afghanistan, click [ID:nAFPAK])

KABUL, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban rubbished on Monday the selection of the man to head the government's main hope for talks with insurgents, saying Burhanuddin Rabbani was actually an obstacle to peace.

Rabbani, chosen on Sunday to head the new High Peace Council, headed a faction that fought the Taliban during the civil war, and as President presided over some of Afghanistan's bloodiest fighting in three decades of conflict.

In recent years, however, he has said he has had contacts with militants willing to consider peace negotiations and Afghan leaders throughout history have made peace with their worst enemies -- and fought their strongest allies.

"We fought Rabbani and his warlords as enemies for a long time so how can we sit with him and discuss peace," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Taliban insurgents have repeatedly rejected peace overtures from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and demanded the withdrawal of nearly 150,000 foreign troops under NATO's command from Afghanistan as a precondition for any talks.

"We reject any sorts of peace talks with Karzai's government and will carry on our Jihad until we see no foreign troops on our soil," Mujahid told Reuters.

Violence is now in its worst level since the Taliban were ousted from power in late 2001 and there is a growing sense both at home and among many of Afghanistan's allies that talks may be the only route to peace.

President Hamid Karzai won approval for the council from a large traditional gathering of elders and other notables who met in Kabul earlier this year to discuss ways to end a war now entering its tenth year. (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan) (Reporting by Rafiq Sherzad and Hamid Shalizi; editing by Emma Graham-Harrison) (hamid.shalizi@thomsonreuters.com; +93 799 390 693

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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