Karzai still open to talks with Taliban

KABUL -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that his government is still willing to start talks with the Taliban, easing concerns that a brazen attack by the group on the presidential palace this week would derail the country's nascent peace process.

In a joint news conference in Kabul with visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron, he urged the militant group to return to the negotiating table. He dismissed the attack as "peanuts" and said it would not deter his government from seeking peace.

The Taliban have indicated they are willing to open peace talks with the United States and the Afghanistan government and opened an office in Qatar a little more than a week ago for possible negotiations.

But at the same time they have not renounced violence and attacks have continued across Afghanistan.

Their ability to carry out well-planned and bold operations was driven home Tuesday when a sport utility vehicle carrying four Taliban fighters managed to make it into a highly secured area by the gates of the palace. The gunmen battled Afghan security forces for about an hour before being killed; a second vehicle involved in the attack blew up at a checkpoint on the way into the area.

The brazen attack on the center of Karzai's government raised concerns that the Afghan leader, who has a reputation for political posturing, might demand difficult concessions for talks.

Karzai told reporters that moving ahead with talks was the only way to end nearly 12 years of war.

The Taliban have refused to negotiate with Karzai's government in the past, saying Washington holds effective control in Afghanistan, but the Americans are hoping to bring the two sides together. The United States has said it would meet first with the Taliban and to get the process going, and those preliminary talks would then be followed by negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan government.