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Kabul minister: â€œTaliban ready to negotiateâ€

27 January 2010 04:56 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ziya Agazade â€“ APA. Afghanistan’s finance minister has raised the prospect of involving the Taliban across all strata of government, at both district and national level, as part of a plan for their reintegration and brokering peace, APA reports citing â€œFinancial Timesâ€.

"Negotiations could begin as early as tomorrow if we have international backing," he said.

Before tomorrow’s opening of an international conference on Afghanistan in London that will address plans for an exit strategy for western forces, Omar Zakhilwal told the Financial Times he believed that the Taliban was ready to negotiate.

"Even at this moment they do sense that it will be impossible for them to return to power."

A Taliban spokesperson, Zabiullah Mojahed, rejected claims that talks were under way. "There is no negotiation going on about reintegration plans or forming a political settlement," he said. "I don’t think there will be any chance of negotiations until the foreign infidel troops leave our country."

Western forces have been on the back foot in the campaign against the Taliban. A suicide car bomber blew himself up near a US military base in Kabul yesterday, wounding six civilians, an Afghan security official said. But Mr Zakhilwal remains optimistic, and insisted that, while it will be difficult to work with the Taliban, "doing nothing on that front is not an option".