[NYTr] Afghanistan: Taliban vows to 'never' negotiate

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP via MSNBC - Sep 30, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21055255/

Taliban vows to 'never' negotiate

Spokesman: Group will 'never' negotiate while foreign troops are in
country 

The Associated Press 

KABUL, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai’s office said Sunday that
there is “serious debate” among some Taliban fighters about laying down
arms, while a spokesman for the militants said they will “never”
negotiate with Afghan authorities until foreign troops leave.

Clashes and airstrikes, meanwhile, killed 16 people, capping a week
that saw more than 270 people die in insurgency-related violence.

Karzai said Saturday he would be willing to meet personally with
Taliban leader Mullah Omar and give militants a position in government
in exchange for peace. Karzai spokesman Humayun Hamidzada on Sunday
stressed that the militants would have to accept Afghanistan’s
constitution.

But Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi repeated a position he
announced earlier this month, saying there would be no negotiations
until U.S. and NATO troops withdraw from Afghanistan.

“The Taliban will never negotiate with the Afghan government in the
presence of foreign forces,” Ahmadi told The Associated Press. “Even if
Karzai gives up his presidency, it’s not possible that Mullah Omar
would agree to negotiations.”

But Karzai’s spokesman said the government has information of a
“serious debate” in some groups of Taliban about how long militants
want to continue fighting. The U.N. and NATO have also said they see
similar indications.

“They want to live in peace and have a comfortable life with their
families,” Hamidzada said. “There is serious debate within their ranks,
but this is a process that takes time.”

Karzai traveled to the U.N. General Assembly in New York last week, and
Hamidzada said that the U.N. secretary-general and the foreign
ministers of many countries, “everyone with one voice said we need a
comprehensive strategy in dealing with the Taliban — both military and
diplomatic components.”

Violence killed 270 in a week

He said Karzai and President Bush also spoke generally about the
Taliban reconciliation process and said Bush also supports such
initiatives. It was not clear if that would include broader Taliban
peace talks beyond the individual reconciliation process that has seen
more than 4,500 fighters lay down their arms the last two years.

Karzai’s latest peace overture came as insurgency-related violence
continued to climb. Thirty people were killed in a suicide bomb attack
on a military bus Saturday in Kabul.

More than 270 have died in violence since last Sunday — 180 of them
militants, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from
Afghan and Western officials.

In the latest violence, insurgents ambushed a convoy of foreign troops
in eastern Paktia province on Saturday. After a brief gunbattle,
airstrikes were called in that killed 11 militants, a provincial police
official said Sunday on condition of anonymity because he was
unauthorized to speak publicly.

The U.S. coalition said it was not involved in the battle, and NATO was
looking into the report.

Another battle in Paktia between police and militants on Saturday left
one suspected insurgent dead, the police official said.

In neighboring Ghazni province, coalition forces fought with
insurgents, killing two Taliban on Saturday in Andar district, said
deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Zaman.

Police in Kandahar city discovered a landmine that exploded while they
were trying to defuse it, killing two police, said Kandahar deputy
provincial police chief Abdul Hakim Hungar.

Military officials said they expected a spike in violence during the
Muslim holy month of Ramadan based on an increase in attacks last year
during the same period.

The death toll this week includes more than 165 militants killed during
two battles between the Taliban and joint Afghan-coalition forces, and
the 30 soldiers and civilians killed in the Kabul suicide bombing.

Militant attacks and military operations have killed more than 4,600
people so far this year, most of them insurgents, according to the AP
count.

© 2007 The Associated Press.