While some reports say Sirajuddin Haqqani, the operational chief of Haqqani network has recently held a meeting with Afghan president Hamid Karzai in the presence of Pakistani Army chief Ashfaq Kiyani, Kabul-based sources reveal the meeting did not take place.
Karzai told CBS television network that he had recently delivered the message privately to President George W Bush.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is seeking removal of upto 50 Taliban commanders from a United Nations terror blacklist in a gesture intended to advance a political reconciliation in his country.
'The Obama administration must show the sagacity to cooperate with Karzai's strategy,' says M K Bhadrakumar.
There are a variety of areas like education, health, science and technology, engineering where India can help Afghanistan, he said.
A sacked United Nations official has accused President Hamid Karzai of organising second poll fraud as his main challenger on Monday pulled out of next weekend's runoff election amid fears of rigging, a news report has said.
Vajpayee is understood to have extended India's continued support to the rebuilding of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan presidential challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, who forced Hamid Karzai to go to a second round in the election, has described his triumph as "history in the making" and helped save the country's fragile democracy.
United States President Barack Obama on Sunday met his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai to discuss the transition process in Afghanistan. "We recognise the hardship that the Afghan people have been through. Both of us recognise that we still have a lot of work to do. The loss of life continues in Afghanistan. There will be hard days ahead, but we are confident that we are on the right track," Obama told reporters in a joint press meet.
United States resident Barack Obama on Tuesday told his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai that America might pull all of its troops out of the war-ravaged country by the year end, but did not rule out the possibility of an agreement on a "limited" post-2014 mission.
"I don't think Karzai's comment was a threat. He is dealing with a very difficult situation on his border and is interested in protecting his people from forces, who want to attack them," White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto said, adding, "We need them working together on where these militias are and whether it's Taliban or Al Qaeda. And they need to come to an agreement in ways to try to diminish the impact of those groups."
Karzai has steadfastly opposed direct talks between the US and the Taliban, wanting Afghan ownership of the "reconciliation process", as the reintegration of the Taliban into the mainstream is referred to.
The Afghanistan government will engage with Taliban elements which are not part of the Al Qaeda network as it continues its military campaign against extremism and terrorism, President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday. "We believe that while we are continuing our campaign against extremism and terrorist networks, the Al Qaeda and its associates, we will also seek means other than a military campaign to bring stability to Afghanistan and to Pakistan by extension," he said.
With Hamid Karzai stonewalling every US effort to conclude a bilateral security agreement, the Obama Administration is pinning its hopes on India to persuade the Afghan President to sign the deal and end the current political imbroglio on the issue.
Afghan President Hamid Karazai ousted his security minster as well as his interior minister in an unexpected decision on Sunday.
Zardari is "said to have quietly given names of four international personalities--Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Saudi Arabian intelligence chief Prince Muqran bin Abdul Aziz and the UAE intelligence chief to the UN inquiry commission to ask them: how did they know the secret in advance that Benazir Bhutto would be killed?" The News Daily reported on Thursday.
As Afghanistan enters the endgame of its 13-year-long partnership with the United States, President Hamid Karzai has added a new twist to its reliable relationship with India by presenting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with a "wish list" for military equipment.
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has predicted that foreign troops might stay in his country for up to 15 years.
Despite claims that Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's younger brother Ahmad Wali Khan Karzai is a drug lord, Senator John F Kerry says no US agency has given him proof.
Afghanistan on Monday night assured India that it would take all possible steps to ensure the safety and security of its citizens, who are engaged in developmental work in the war-torn country.
51-year-old Karzai was administered oath of office by the head of the Supreme Court, Abdul Salam Azmi, at a grand ceremony at the heavily fortified Presidential Palace in the presence of 800 guests, including External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
And for any solution to work, Pakistan could not be excluded, the writer Tahir Ali said, not least because a great many Pashtuns, who live within Pakistan but don't recognise the Afghan-Pakistan border, would be up in arms. The Pakistan military would be a key player in any decision taken on Afghanistan -- along with Iran, Russia and China.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday spoke to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and discussed the situation arising out of Thursday's attack on Indian Embassy in Kabul.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who discussed the Mumbai terror attacks, said the incident shows that terrorism poses a threat to the entire humanity and all countries should fulfil their bilateral and multilateral obligations to prevent the scourge.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has offered an olive branch to Taliban chief Mullah Omar, assuring him security if the latter gave up fighting and came forward for talks.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Friday assured India that a thorough investigation would be conducted into the suicide bomb attack near the Indian embassy in Kabul to ascertain who was behind it.
After being critical of Pakistan over its links with Taliban militants, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has now said his country would stand by Islamabad in the event of hostilities with any nation, including the United States or India. "God forbid, if at any time there is a war between Pakistan and America, then we will be with Pakistan," Karzai said.
President Hamid Karzai has wondered why Islamabad allowed Indian diplomatic mission on its soil if it was a security threat for them.
The Second Regional Economic Conference on Afghanistan begins in New Delhi on November 18.
Regional security situation and other key bilateral issues between India and Afghanistan will be discussed during the talks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 12.
Afghanistan became a SAARC member in 2006.
The Obama administration has said it is supportive of the peace talks between the Karzai government and the Taliban, but asserted that there is no change in its position that this requires a renunciation of Al Qaeda, following Afghan law and renouncing violence.
Ladies and gentlemen, today's conference must serve, above all, as an impetus to define a vision that reflects the shared interests of all of us, and agree on working together towards achieving it.
The White House on Thursday said the presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to stay in touch in a regular way, but has refused to get into the details of what transpired at the meeting between George W Bush, Pervez Musharraf and Karzai.
Noting that the Barack Obama administration is keeping a close watch on the Hamid Karzai government, the White House on Wednesday said that the Afghanistan president should not expect a blank cheque in his second term. "I think you heard the President speak clearly at West Point (at New York in December 2009) and since then about the need to take governance seriously; that there was not an open-ended blank cheque for waste and abuse going forward in Afghan," said an official.
The United States had reached a tentative deal with the Taliban to allow, among other things, the transfer of five Afghans from the Guantanamo Bay prison in lieu of their public renunciation of terrorism, but the agreement failed to take off because of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's objections. A report in the Washington Post has claimed that the deal was the closest the two parties came to genuine peace negotiations after nearly a year of talks.
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