Karzai: Peace talks with Taliban under way

KABUL -- President Hamid Karzai acknowledged Saturday that the U.S. and Afghan governments have held talks with Taliban emissaries in a bid to end the nation's nearly 10-year war, even as suicide attackers launched an assault in the heart of the county's capital, killing nine people.

The assault occurred shortly after Karzai announced during a speech to youth at the presidential palace that members of his peace council and the United States have begun preliminary peace negotiations with the Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan for five years and sheltered al-Qaida before being driven out of power in the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001.

Reports about such talks have surfaced in recent months, but Karzai's statement was the first public confirmation of U.S. participation.

"In the course of this year, there have been peace talks with the Taliban and our own countrymen," he said. "Peace talks have started with them already and it is going well. Foreign militaries, especially the United States of America, are going ahead with these negotiations."

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said only that the United States has "consistently supported an Afghan-led" peace process.

"Over the past two years, we have laid out our red lines for the Taliban: They must renounce violence; they must abandon their alliance with al-Qaida; and they must abide by the constitution of Afghanistan," Toner said. "This is the price for reaching a political resolution and bringing an end to the military actions that are targeting their leadership and decimating their ranks."

The assault occurred when three men wearing camouflage fatigues that are frequently worn by Afghan soldiers stormed a police station near the presidential palace. One of them detonated an explosives vest just outside the gates as two others rushed inside and began firing, an Interior Ministry statement said.

The crackle of gunfire echoed through the usually bustling streets for about two hours before security forces killed the two remaining attackers. Insurgents killed three police officers, one intelligence agent and five civilians in the attack, according to the ministry statement.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.