No deal if it spurs kidnappings: Karzai

I really hope this sad story end soon. god will be with you.

No deal if it spurs kidnappings: Karzai

Afghan president discusses hostages, security situation in summit with Bush

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in an interview broadcast Sunday that he would do everything to help free 21 South Korean missionaries, short of actions that would encourage more hostage-taking, AFP reported Monday.

Asked in an interview with CNN whether he would negotiate with the Taliban kidnappers to secure the release of the hostages, Karzai said: "We will try everything to have them released safely and in security.

"We will do everything other than encouraging hostage-taking and terrorism to have them released," he added.

The interview was recorded on Saturday ahead of Karzai's departure for the United States for two-day talks with President George W. Bush.

Afghan negotiators on Saturday repeated that they had ruled out a prisoner exchange, and said any deal to free the group would have to involve a ransom payout. Karzai said he is talking with his government's officials about the case "on an hourly basis."

He said the kidnappers, who seized 23 South Korean church aid workers on July 19 and have killed two of them to try to force the government to release Taliban prisoners, were mainly foreigners.

"These terrorists, as you know, mostly of foreign origin, foreign backing. But since the hostage-taking took place in Afghanistan, it brings us a bad name," Karzai said.

South Korea is pressing the United States to intervene in the crisis and a top U.S. diplomat said late Thursday there was "potential" for military pressure against the Taliban to try to free them.

Karzai arrived in the United States on Sunday afternoon. On Monday, Bush and Karzai are to hold a news conference at 11:25 a.m. EDT, Reuters reported.

The drug trade, economic development and the fate of the 21 hostages were likely to be high on the agenda for the two days of discussions.

But Karzai, who rose to power in 2002 with U.S. backing, introduced a potential wrinkle in the talks with some friendly public comments about Iran, considered by Washington a major threat to global stability.

In the interview broadcast on CNN, Karzai appeared to turn back U.S. allegations that Iranian arms were helping to erode the security situation in Afghanistan. "So far, Iran has been a helper and a solution," AFP quoted him as saying.

"Iran has been a supporter of Afghanistan, in the peace process that we have and the fight against terror, and the fight against narcotics in Afghanistan," Karzai said in the interview conducted Saturday.

He went on to say that Afghanistan and Iran had "very, very good, very, very close relations. ... We will continue to have good relations with Iran. We will continue to resolve issues, if there are any, to arise."

His remarks differed markedly from the U.S. stance, which sees Iran as a major menace that bankrolls terrorists, supplies arms to insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, and seeks to develop nuclear weapons.

The U.S. position was reiterated Sunday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as she defended the U.S. decision to sell tens of billions of dollars in arms to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to thwart Iranian ambitions.

"I don't think anybody doubts that Iran constitutes a major challenge, security challenge, to our friends, our allies, and therefore to our interests in the Gulf region," Rice told CBS television.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who just returned from a Middle East swing with Rice, offered in response to Karzai's comments that Iran was "playing both sides of the street in Afghanistan."

"I think they're doing some things to help the Afghan government," Gates told CNN. "I think they're also doing things to help the Taliban, including providing weapons."

The White House earlier said Bush and Karzai would discuss Washington's war on terror and "review their work together to enhance Afghanistan's long-term democracy, prosperity, and security."

Karzai also indicated that security forces were no closer than they were a few years ago to finding bin Laden, the elusive chief of the al-Qaida network.

"We are not closer, we are not further away from it. We are where we were a few years ago," Karzai said.

"I definitely know he cannot be in Afghanistan. Where he is is a question I cannot answer at this point."

Gates, when asked about Karzai's downbeat assessment, told CNN, "We're working the problem. ... We are dedicating significant resources to trying to find him."

The Taliban insurgency began months after their 2001 ouster by U.S. forces and has intensified, having already claimed thousands of lives, mainly of militants.

But a counteroffensive by U.S. and NATO forces has led to increasing civilian deaths, and Karzai has angrily accused foreign soldiers of an "extreme use of force."

Bush is expected to reassure him that the U.S. and NATO are concerned about the bloody repercussions and understand the political pressure he is facing.

From news reports



2007.08.07