By Xinhua
Kabul : Taliban is ready to hold peace negotiations with the Afghan government, Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told Xinhua from an undisclosed place Monday.
Responding to comments by the Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai Sunday, Ahmadi said Taliban is in favour of solving Afghanistan’s problems through negotiations, which he said should be based on Islamic principles and for Afghanistan’s benefit.
Karzai said Sunday, “The door for negotiations with Taliban rebels was always open, but the Afghan government does not have their address or telephone number, so it is hard to negotiate with them.”
But Ahmadi refuted Karzai’s comments and insisted that Taliban was among the people and has an address.
He said that Taliban would like to hold peace talks with Afghan authorities just as it held negotiations with the South Korean government on 23 hostages recently.
However, Ahmadi said the Taliban has not received any formal proposals for peace negotiations from the Afghan government.
“If it receives the proposals, the Taliban would bring forward its conditions and demands for the talks,” he added.
This is the first time that the Taliban has publicly expressed its readiness to hold peace talks.
Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 till the regime was ousted in 2001 by the US-led forces.
Over the past two years, Taliban militants have shown a strong resurgence in Afghanistan and launched numerous attacks against foreign troops and government targets.