Karzai: 'Peace Talks With Taliban Over'

Afghan President Hamid Karzai stated, speaking to a group of religious scholars, that peace talks with Taliban are over. He said he will conduct peace talks with Pakistan instead.

The statement comes after the funeral of former President Burhanuddin Rabbani took place. He stated that the killing of Rabbani by a Taliban militant disguised as a peace envoy convinced him that he can no longer conduct peace talks with Taliban.

"A messenger comes disguised as a Taliban Council member and kills, and they neither confirm nor reject it. Therefore, we cannot talk to anyone but to Pakistan," BBC quotes Karzai, as saying.

"Who is the other side in the peace process? I do not have any other answer but to say Pakistan is the other side in the peace talks with us."

Karzai and the religious authorities praised former president's peace efforts, while condemning his assassination by a Taliban suicide bomber.

Karzai was briefly a supporter of Taliban in mid-1990s but was later disappointed with the group. For the last few years, however, Karzai was a proponent of dialogue with the moderate wing of Taliban.

His latest statement is a departure from his earlier conviction that Taliban could be invited to peace dialogue.