Karzai says, Afghanistan will target Taliban

October 14th, 2009 KABUL - Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has expressed concern about the investigation into election fraud in Afghanistan. In an interview on US TV, the BBC quoted Karzai, as saying that the resignation of an Afghan member of the UN-backed panel "cast serious doubt" on its work.

September 27th, 2009 LONDON - The United States is annoyed and frustrated at the way the Taliban and other extremists are easily sneaking into Pakistan's territory bordering Afghanistan, and could launch an air strike against the Talibani leadership who has taken refuge in Quetta. According to The Times, the US's threat to target Taliban inside Pakistan's geographical boundary comes amid the increasing division in Washington over whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to deal with the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan or by reducing the number of security personnel and target the militants directly.

September 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has endorsed a US military call for more troops in the conflict-torn country, calling it "the right approach". Reports earlier Monday said that General Stanley McChrystal, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, wrote in a confidential report to Defence Secretary Robert Gates that the war against Taliban militants could "result in failure" unless more troops are sent to turn the tide within 12 months.

September 20th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, has said that Islamabad is reluctant to target Taliban leaders present on its soil despite repeated appeals by America in this regard. In an interview with a US daily, Patterson said even after eight years of Pakistan agreeing to support the US in its war against the Al-Qaeda and Taliban, Islamabad, it appears, has 'different priorities' from the US.

September 19th, 2009 KABUL - Top Taliban commander Mullah Mohammad Omar has said that despite the surge in international troops, western countries should learn from the history of Afghanistan as a tomb for invaders and they would face defeat eventually. "The invaders should study the history of Afghanistan from the time of the aggression of Alexander, to the Ganges of the yore and to this very day and should receive lesson from it," he said in a statement released Saturday, on the eve of Eid al-Fitr, in Pashtun, Farsi and English versions.

September 9th, 2009 MADRID - Spain will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan within five years, Defence Minister Carme Chacon said. The remarks followed Spain's recent announcement that it would send another 220 soldiers to the Central Asian country to help in the continued battle against the Taliban.

August 24th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Hamid Karzai's first priority after getting re-elected as Afghanistan's president is to open peace talks with Pakistan in an attempt to end the Taliban insurgency raging across their shared border, one of his top aides has said. Hamed Elmi said that a new Karzai-led government would quickly reach out to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to advance negotiations with Taliban fighters.

August 22nd, 2009 KABUL - Western officials here have expressed relief that many Afghans defied Taliban threats of reprisals and came out to vote, but they were clearly concerned on Friday that a second round of voting could extend the paralysis of a government that already barely functions and deepen ethnic tensions, in the worst case, to the point of a north-south civil war. A runoff, according to the New York Times, would also leave many of the Obama administration's Afghanistan policy initiatives up in the air- like fighting corruption and improving distribution of aid.

August 21st, 2009 KABUL - Supporters of incumbent president Hamid Karzai on Friday claimed victory in the second presidential elections held in Afghanistan since 2001. Karzai cheered the "successful conduct" of the elections.

August 21st, 2009 NEW YORK - The UN Security Council has hailed the Afghans for holding elections defying the Taliban violence aimed at deraling the poll process. In a statement Thursday, British UN Ambassador John Sawers, who holds the rotating Security Council presidency for August, congratulated the people of Afghanistan "on their participation in these historic elections".

July 27th, 2009 KABUL - Taliban militants in a western Afghan province have struck a ceasefire with the government and agreed not to disrupt the presidential election Aug 20, a presidential spokesman said Monday. The truce was struck Saturday with local Taliban commanders in the Bala Murghab district of Badghis province through mediation by local elders, said Siamak Herawi, a spokesman for Afghan President Hamdi Karzai.

July 24th, 2009 KABUL - Afghanistan's former Foreign Minister, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, has emerged as a serious challenger to President Hamid Karzai, who is bidding for a second consecutive term in office.

July 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The United States has ruled out any negotiations with the Taliban until it lays down arms and severe all its ties with Al-Qaeda. When enquired about the statement of the Pakistan Army's spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, that the Pakistan military can bring the Taliban to the discussion table with the United States, the US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said such a possibility can only occur when the Taliban 'repudiates al-Qaeda publicly'.

June 27th, 2009 KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed concern Saturday over the presence of a US diplomat at a press meet of a key rival in the country's upcoming August elections, saying it amounted to interference in the electoral process. Karzai described as "a sensitive issue" the presence of Karl Eikenberry, US ambassador to Afghanistan, earlier this month at a press conference at which former foreign minister and presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah announced his platform of decentralising the government.

May 7th, 2009 LAHORE - Suicide bombings are justified in Islam from the days' of Prophet Mohammad, the Taliban has said. Spokesperson of the reclusive leader of Afghanistan Taliban Mullah Omar, Zabiullah Mujahid said the Taliban is working for the sake of Islam.