Posted on 09/30/2008 4:26:01 AM PDT by HAL9000
KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he's asked the king of Saudi Arabia to help facilitate peace talks with the Taliban in order to bring an end to the Afghan conflict.Karzai says there has not yet been any negotiations only requests for help. But he says that Afghan officials have traveled to both Saudi Arabia and to Pakistan in hopes of ending the conflict.
Karzai says his government is trying to encourage militants to lay down arms and join the government, and he underscored that he has reached out to Taliban leader Mullah Omar to ''come back to your home soil and work for the happiness of the people.''
Karzai also said he would personally protect Omar from US and NATO troops if he comes back to Afghanistan for talks.
Mullah Omar to be provided security in Afghanistan: Karzai
The US-backed Karzai said Afghan envoys had made repeated trips to the Gulf kingdom and to neighbouring Pakistan to facilitate the negotiations. "Since two years I have been sending letters and messages to the Saudi Arabian king and requested him, as a world Muslim leader, to help us bring peace in Afghanistan," Karzai told a news conference.
"The preparation for negotiations is going on, on a daily basis. Our envoys travelled many times to Saudi Arabia and to Pakistan, but the discussions have not started yet. We hope that it happens soon."
Karzai's comments come two days after Britain's Observer newspaper reported the Taliban were in secret negotiations brokered by Saudi King Abdullah to end the conflict in Afghanistan.
In September 2007, the Afghan president said for the first time that he was ready to talk to Mullah Mohammed Omar, after earlier saying that he wanted negotiations with lower-level militant leaders.
Karzai made a fresh appeal on Tuesday for Omar and others to come to the negotiating table. "We are trying so that our brothers, those Afghan Taliban who have taken the gun against their people and country, and their leader Mullah Omar, can return back to their country and work for peace," Karzai said.
Mullah Omar needs to have an unfortuate accident or a sudden bout of lead poisoning if he shows up in Kabul.
Karzai is making a mistake. Mullah Omar cannot be made an ally.
“We will make no distinction between those who committed these acts and those who harbor them.” - President George W. Bush, September 11, 2001
The chances of Omar accepting the offer are about zero, in my opinion. There may be some other purpose in the invitation.
I doubt if Omar’s had a religious conversion lately.
They will spray rodent poison on them, and they will bring it back to their lair. Then they will all day a horrible dehydrating death.
Yeah....thats the ticket.
“They will spray rodent poison on them, and they will bring it back to their lair.”
Maybe we can get the Chinese to sell them coffee/cocoa with melamine! Then it wouldn’t even be the fault of the US.
I hope it is a deadly purpose, but I agree it is very unlikely that Omar bites.
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