Afghan President Hamid Karzai renewed his call on Monday for talks with the Taliban and other groups battling his government.“While we are fighting for our honour and dignity against an enemy who wants our destruction and wants us to bleed, once again we want to open a way for negotiations,” Karzai told thousands gathered at the main Shiite Muslim mosque in Kabul.Karzai’s call comes at a time when US, NATO and other Western officials warn of a Taliban spring offensive, following the bloodiest year since the former hard-line regime was removed from power in 2001 by a US-led force.The Taliban last year launched a record number of attacks, and some 4,000 people, most of them militants, died in insurgency-related violence, according to an AP tally based on reports from Afghan, NATO and coalition officials.Karzai, who took power after the Taliban’s ouster and won a five-year term in the 2004 elections, has made similar offers of talks before that have been rebuffed by militant leaders. The government also has a reconciliation programme that encourages militants to lay down their arms.In southern Afghanistan, where the insurgency is strongest, clashes between the police and militants on Sunday left two suspected Taliban and one policeman dead, officials said. -AMIR SHAH
