Kabul, February 13: Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on Taliban fighters today to lay down their arms as a massive military operation aimed at neutralising them in a major stronghold got underway.
As 15,000 US-led troops descended on the Marjah district of southern Helmand province, controlled for years by Taliban militants, Karzai issued a statement calling on the Islamists to rejoin mainstream Afghan society.
“President Karzai calls upon all Afghan Taliban to use this as an opportunity to renounce violence and re-integrate into civilian life alongside other Afghans for the welfare of their country,” said a statement issued by his office.
Karzai has referred to Taliban fighters as his “disenchanted brothers,” believing that most are poor and unemployed men who fight for cash rather than for Islamist ideology.
–PTI