Afghanistan

Taliban judge US reconciliation plan crazy, kill 13 in Kandahar

Article published on the 2009-04-01 Latest update 2009-04-01 15:28 TU

A wounded man at the Kandahar attack
(Photo: Reuters)

The Taliban have dubbed a US plan to split their ranks "crazy" after Tuesday's conference on Afghanistan in The Hague where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for efforts to win over "moderate" defectors from the Islamist movement. In the southern city of Kandahar 17 people, including the attackers, were killed in a suicide attack on council offices.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the Kandahar attack, in which four men, reportedly in military uniform, attacked heavily-guarded council offices.

Senior government officials were among the dead, as were police officers, civilians, and the four attackers.

Officials say that they arrived in a vehicle, with three getting out while the other stayed inside and blew it up. The others then went into the official compound and opened fire. Two of them were shot dead, while the other detonated explosives.

A Taliban spokesperson told the Reuters news agency that the Obama administration's proposal of "honourable reconciliation", which was the key point of the Hague conference, is "crazy".

"They just have to try and find the moderate Taliiban, find their leaders and discuss with them," he sneered.

France will not be sending any more troops to Afghanistan, President Nicolas Sarkozy told Europe 1 radio on Wednesday.

"We won't be leaving just like that!" he said but he insisted that foreign forces are not an occupation force and so security must be "Afghanised", in line with plans to give resources for training Afghan troops and police.

He made no comment on Foreign Minister Benard Kouchner's announcement in The Hague that an extra 150 gendarmes will be sent to the country. France reportedly differs with the US over who will take responsibility for the training of paramilitary police.

In neighbouring Pakistan, a  suspected US drone killed up to 12 people when it fired two missiles into an alleged Taliban/Al-Qaeda training camp in the north-west of the country.

France24 TV on the Hague conference: http://webmail.rfi.fr/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.france24.com/fr/20090331-conference-avenir-afghanistan-pays-bas-haye-nouvelle-strategie-americaine-reconstruction-Taliban-obama-clinton