Karzai Meets Taliban Delegation Over Kandahar

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 06, 2001

Karzai Meets Taliban Delegation Over Kandahar

Hamid Karzai, the newly named head of the U.N.-brokered Afghan interim authority, held talks with a Taliban delegation on Wednesday in Shah Wali Kot, north of Kandahar, to end the siege of Kandahar without further bloodshed, a Taliban spokesman told Afghan Islamic Press (AIP).

''We want to resolve our problem peacefully and we want to avoid bloodshed in Kandahar,'' AIP quoted the spokesman as saying.

The Pakistan-based news agency said the Taliban delegation, led by Maulvi Akhtar Mohammad Aghazai, was sent by Taliban supreme leader Mohammed Omar.

The Taliban, which have repeatedly vowed they would never surrender their last stronghold and spiritual home in southern Afghanistan, are apparently changing their stance as the U.S. and anti-Taliban forces have tightened their grip on the city.

Karzai, 46, an influential Pashtun tribal leader, was named Wednesday to lead the provisional Afghan administration to be set up in Kabul on Dec. 22 under an agreement reached by four Afghan factions at the U.S.-brokered peace conference in Bonn.

Former Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef called the new government in Afghanistan ''a puppet'' set up by other countries, the AIP said.

''We will only accept an organization, which is based on Islamic system and serves for the interests of Afghan people,'' AIP quoted Zaeef as saying.

Profile of Hamid Karzai

Hamid Karzai, 44, is at once a traditional tribal chief from the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar and a longtime anti-Taliban leader.
In July 1999, his father was assassinated in Pakistan and he inherited his father's title as head of the Populzai and continued rallying anti-Taliban forces in Pakistan and overseas.
Because he is the head of a prominent Pashtun clan and close to the former king, Mohammad Zahir Shah, his supporters say most Pashtuns are likely to rally behind him.
Mr. Karzai, who went to college in India and speaks English fluently, joined the mujahedeen government of the early 1990's as deputy foreign minister. But he left the post as the country slipped into anarchy and warlordism.
Like many Afghans, he initially supported the Taliban and their promise of order and unity. But when the Taliban entered Kabul, closed down schools and eliminated education for girls, and told women they could not work, he cut his ties with them.
He was married two years ago to a physician named Zenat. They do not have children.

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