Afghanistan, Taliban reject reports of Saudi peace talks
Afghan ice vendor Abdul Latif sells ice to children in Kabul. Abdul Latif, selling blocks of ice from a wooden cart on a ragged Kabul street, says he cherishes the "freedom" brought by the ouster of the extremist Taliban regime in a US-led invasion seven years ago. But today, "everything is so expensive," laments the 46-year-old who has spent half his life as a fighter in Afghanistan's nearly three decades of war. Photo: AFP
The Afghan government said yesterday it was hoping for peace talks with the insurgent Taliban movement but denied a media report that a first round of negotiations took place in Saudi Arabia last month.
A spokesman for the Taliban also rejected the US media report that representatives of the militia had met Afghan government officials in Mecca between September 24 and 27.
Afghan religious scholars visited the Islamic country during the holy month of Ramadan and attended a dinner with King Abdullah but there were no negotiations with the Taliban, a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai said.
The government did however want such talks in order to find a way to end a Taliban-led insurgency, spokesman Homayun Hamidzada told AFP, reiterating a statement made by Karzai last week.
"It has not happened yet. We would like that to happen but how, when and where, by what mechanism and with whose help -- we are working on that," Hamidzada said.
"Saudi Arabia is the leading country in the Islamic world... The president has said clearly that we look up to the Saudi king and if such a thing would happen, we would welcome it," he said.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahed, said: "This is totally untrue. We have not had any talks or negotiations with the government, neither in Saudi nor anywhere else."
Meanwhile, Afghanistan began registering voters Monday for next year's presidential polls, an election likely to be the most dangerous and challenging since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001.
The Islamist militant movement, which has regained control of large swathes of the country, said it will not participate and warned other Afghans not to.
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