Taleban shun Karzai talks offer

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A spokesman for Taleban militants in Afghanistan has rejected another offer for talks by President Hamid Karzai.

Spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi said the Taleban would never negotiate with the Afghan authorities while foreign troops remained in the country.

President Karzai repeated on Saturday that he would be willing to offer the Taleban positions in government if it would bring peace.

He was speaking after a Taleban suicide bomber killed 30 people in Kabul.

"Taliban are not interested in government posts - ministries or anything. We want the withdrawal of foreign forces and we stand by our position," Qari Yusuf Ahmadi told news agencies.

"As long as they have not withdrawn, we'll never talk with the Kabul administration."

Offer

President Karzai said on Saturday he wished he could contact Taleban leader Mullah Omar and warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to ask why they were trying to destroy Afghanistan.

He said he would meet both men personally, and even offer them cabinet posts, if it would help to bring about peace.

But he reiterated he would not agree to any troop withdrawal.

The Taleban claimed responsibility for Saturday's suicide bomb attack on a Kabul bus, which was split in two by the blast.

The attack, in which a further 21 people were injured, was the second deadliest in the Afghan capital since 2001.

More than 3,000 people have been killed this year as Afghan and foreign forces battle Taleban fighters.

Scores of Taleban fighters have been killed in the past week.