International - India & World   

India not to back talks with Taliban

MOSCOW: India does not support the initiative of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai to engage the “good Taliban” in the peace process, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here.

“Some make a distinction between ‘good Taliban’ and ‘bad Taliban’ — I don’t, because I’ve seen the Taliban, they have only one cult — the cult of violence,” Mr. Mukherjee said after co-chairing the Indo-Russian Intergovernmental Commission.

Mr. Mukherjee denied media reports that India had shifted its position on the issue of talks with the Taliban at a United Nations high-level meeting on Afghanistan in New York last month.

“Our stated position is zero tolerance for terrorists,” he told The Hindu. “What I stated in New York is that if extremist organisations give up violence and come forward to join in the reconstruction and rebuilding of Afghanistan, there is no problem.”

Asked whether he saw any faction in the Taliban that can be engaged in talks, Mr. Mukherjee bluntly said: “No. They are simply indulging in violence, and have even launched attacks on civilians, which is a new development.”

Mr. Karzai has recently been arguing in favour of opening talks with those Taliban leaders who are not linked to Al-Qaeda. The initiative reflects the failure of U.S.-led coalition forces in defeating the Taliban. British Defence Secretary Des Browne last month warned that there was “no possibility” of establishing a Western legal system in Afghanistan and called for involving the Taliban in peace efforts.

Mr. Mukherjee said India and Russia saw eye to eye on the issue of rejecting talks with the Taliban.

Speaking at the New York meeting on Afghanistan on September 23, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Yakovenko deplored the fact that “some of our colleagues still have the illusion that by making peace with the Taliban who have allegedly repented, it is possible to bring stability to Afghanistan.”

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Colombo rejects U.N. envoy’s idea on rights
Benazir’s clean chit to Musharraf
Move to clip U.K. Premier’s powers
Sarkozy, wife to part ways?
Myanmar junta arrests more activists
Nobel economist endorses Chavez regional bank plan
Fujimori appears in court
India not to back talks with Taliban
India, Russia to sign nuclear energy pact

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu