Britain reportedly urges Karzai to make peace with Taliban

Nov 9, 2009, 14:44 GMT

   Hamburg - Britain has quietly urged Afghan's newly re-elected president, Hamid Karzai, to make peace with the less radical part of the Taliban, a German magazine, Stern, claimed Monday.

In a story on its website, stern.de, it said that London's confidential message had identified the so-called Quetta Shura, based in Pakistan, as the Taliban supreme authority and called on Karzai to make peace with it.

Previously, London had merely urged Karzai to amnesty Taliban fighters and their regional commanders. Stern said it was now pressing for the Taliban's senior commanders and shadow governors to be amnestied.

Stern did not offer a source for the story, but printed a photograph of what it said was part of the classified document in English. It said a Kabul daily newspaper, Hashte Zob, had reported the existence, but not the content, of the memo.

According to the reported memo, Karzai was urged to make contact through Afghanistan's NDS intelligence service with Taliban commanders and offer them an end to hostilities if the Taliban consented to a ceasefire.

Stern said London told Karzai the only group that he should exclude from a national reconciliation should be Taliban elements linked to al-Qaeda, the terrorist network. Stern said Taliban leaders had in fact already begun to dissociate themselves from al-Qaeda.

According to Stern, London also urged Karzai to fight corruption and restrict the drug trade, as well as granting Pakistan certain veto rights over Afghanistan's affairs so as to ease Islamabad's fears that India would gain influence over Afghanistan.