Kabul, September 08: Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai hopes to hold peace talks with the Taliban within 100 days if he is re-elected, he told the French daily Le Figaro in an interview published Monday.
But Karzai insisted he would not sit down with any faction that refuses to cut its links with Al Qaida or fails to respect the Afghan constitution.
He implicitly confirmed Saudi Arabia is involved in trying to broker talks between his government and the Islamist militia, who were driven from power in 2001 and are now fighting an insurgency against Afghan and Nato forces.
Karzai also said he thought that US President Barack Obama was more ready than his predecessor George W. Bush to countenance talks with the Taliban in order to find a way out of the eight-year-old conflict.
Asked whether he was ready to talk to the Taliban, Karzai replied: “It’s something that I’ll do in these first 100 days. I’ve noticed a change of attitude on the part of President Obama, compared to his predecessor.
“But be careful – and it’s something that Saudi Arabia should remember – there’s no question of a dialogue with Taliban who don’t renounce their links with Al Qaida or who refuse to recognise the Afghan constitution.”
Le Figaro conducted the interview in Kabul and Karzai’s remarks were published in French.
Official results of the first round in Afghanistan’s presidential election are due to be released on September 17, but partial results based on voting in three-quarters of polling stations have him in the lead on 48.6 per cent.
Karzai needs more than 50 per cent to avoid a second round run-off against his main rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who has complained of widespread vote-rigging in last month’s first round.
Meanwhile, a Swedish charity accused American troops yesterday of storming through a hospital in central Afghanistan, breaking down doors and tying up staff in a search for militants. The US military said it was investigating the episode. The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan said the US Army’s 10th Mountain Division entered the charity’s hospital without permission to look for insurgents in Wardak province, southwest of Kabul.
“This is simply not acceptable,” said Anders Fange, the charity’s country director.
The US troops came to the hospital looking for insurgents late at night last Wednesday.
Fange said they kicked in doors, tied up four hospital employees and two family members of patients, and forced patients out of beds during their search.
When they left two hours later, the unit ordered hospital staff to inform coalition forces if any wounded militants were admitted, and the military would decide if they could be treated, Fange said.
The staff refused, he said.
“That would put our staff at risk and make the hospital a target.”
The charity said on its website that the troops’ actions were not only a violation of humanitarian principles but also went against an agreement between Nato forces and charities working in the area.
The allegation that soldiers violated the neutrality of a medical facility follows the reported deaths of Afghan civilians in a US airstrike in the country’s north last week.
An Afghan human rights group said yesterday the strike on two hijacked fuel tankers may have killed as many as 70 civilians in Kunduz province.
Civilian deaths and intrusive searches have bred resentment among the Afghan population nearly eight years after the US-led coalition invaded to oust the Taliban’s regime for sheltering Al Qaida terrorist leaders.
Foreign forces are working to persuade the population to support the Afghan government after last month’s presidential election, which has yet to be decided amid allegations of vote-rigging.
–Agencies–