Taliban 'willing to negotiate with government'
Taliban chiefs would consider holding negotiations with the Afghan government, but no direct offer has been made by President Hamid Karzai's administration, a spokesman for the militant group said today.
"If Karzai and his government ask directly for negotiations, the Taliban would consider that offer," Qari Yousef Ahmadi said by phone from an unknown location.
Ahmadi's comments come a day after Karzai reiterated an offer to negotiate with the hard-line fundamentalists, but added, the fighters "don't have an address" or a telephone number, saying: "Who do we talk to?"
Ahmadi, however, said the militants lived in Afghanistan and were easy to contact if government officials wanted to talk.
He noted that South Korean officials flew into the country and quickly contacted the Taliban for negotiations regarding the fate of South Korean hostages last month.
"The Taliban are in Afghanistan," Ahmadi said. "Whenever the Afghan government wants to hold negotiations, the Taliban is in Afghanistan."
Meanwhile, 10 of 13 de-miners working for a UN-funded land mine-clearing agency kidnapped in eastern Afghanistan last week were released today, said Paktia provincial police chief Esmatullah Alizai. The three remaining captives were expected to be released soon, Alizai said.
Kefayatullah Eblagh, the head of Afghan Technical Consultants, the de-mining agency, said he did not think Taliban militants were behind the abductions, suggesting that a criminal group seeking ransom money carried out the kidnappings.
Elsewhere, militants ambushed and killed four police from the north-west province of Faryab who were travelling to neighbouring Badghis province to help repel an attack on a government centre, said Faryab provincial police chief Gen. Khalil Zayia.
