Europe News
Germany welcomes talks with Taliban
Jun 19, 2011, 11:13 GMT
Kabul - Germany welcomed on Sunday the announcement by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that talks with the Taliban were taking place.
'The German government has been saying for months that we support a political process in Afghanistan,' the German ambassador Ruediger Koenig said.
That included reconciliation talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, in which the US played a key role, he said.
'We are happy that this process has now got started,' Koenig added.
Karzai confirmed on Saturday that the US was taking part in talks with the Taliban, during a speech at a youth conference in Kabul.
Until now the Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until they were ousted by US-led forces in 2001, had insisted that all foreign troops must be withdrawn from the country before talks could take place.
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