Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged the United States Sunday to back talks with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, saying there was an "urgent need" for a negotiated approach to the conflict. "Alone, we can't do it," Karzai said in an interview on CNN with Christiane Amanpour.
His comments came as US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton played down the prospects of negotiations with the Taliban, particularly with Mullah Omar. Karzai acknowledged there was no support from his US partners for talks with Omar but reaffirmed his longstanding view that it would be useful to engage the Taliban leader in negotiations.
"I do see an urgent need for a negotiated approach," he said. "As well as we try to struggle against terrorism, we must also talk and find peaceful ways." "As an Afghan, I would very much want to negotiate with him (Omar), provided he renounces violence, provided all the connections to the al Qaeda and to terrorist networks are cut off and denounced and renounced." "And also provided, most importantly, that the United States and our other allies back us in this and see the need for it," he added.
The purpose of such talks would be to let the Taliban know that Afghanistan is their country, that they will not be persecuted and to ensure that they are not allied with al Qaeda, he said.
"That possibility is there. This has to be backed by our allies," he said. For his part, Omar last month rejected calls from Karzai for peace talks, in a statement issued shortly before the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
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