"We have been talking to the Taliban as countrymen to countrymen," Karzai said in an interview to CNN, days after the American media had reported that secret high-level talks were underway.
"Unofficial talks have been held with Taliban representatives over an extended period. This is not regular official contact with the Taliban with a fixed address, but rather unofficial personal contacts," Karzai said in the Larry King Live show.
Karzai said the new initiative, headed by former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, had been tasked with speeding up negotiations with the Taliban insurgents. While supporting the initiative to open dialogue with the Taliban, the Afghan president said his government will continue to work against groups like the Al Qaeda, saying that the Arab-dominated group was against Afghanistan.
Describing the Taliban as "the sons of Afghan soil" who had been driven to violence by various factors beyond their control, Karzai said, "They are like kids who have run away from the family. The family must try to bring them back."
"Now that the peace council has come into existence under former president Rabbani, these talks will go on, and will go on officially and more rigorously," he added.
About his relations with the United States, Karzai said, "There is a strategic relationship based on strategic objective that's security for us, security for the US and security for the rest of the world." In the interview, Karzai said fear still lingered among Afghans that the Americans might abandon the country as they had done after the defeat of the Soviet Union.
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