Kabul: The Taliban on Tuesday ridiculed Hamid
Karzai as a "puppet president" after he was handed another
five-year term in office, accusing Western powers of deciding
to cancel Afghanistan's election run-off.
"The cancellation of the second round of the election
showed that decisions on Afghanistan are made in Washington
and London, while the announcements are made in Kabul," a
Taliban statement said.
"What is astonishing is two weeks ago they were arguing
that the puppet president Hamid Karzai was involved in
electoral fraud... but now he is elected as president based on
those same fraudulent votes, Washington and London
immediately send their congratulations."
In a press conference on Tuesday, Karzai offered an olive
branch to his Taliban "brothers" and urged them "to come home
and embrace their land".
The Taliban, whose fighters have strongholds in the
south and along the porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border, were
driven out of Kabul in late 2001 by US-led coalition forces,
paving the way for Karzai to take power.
The president has issued a number of similar appeals to
the Taliban in the past, offering an amnesty to its fugitive
leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The Taliban, however, condemned the electoral process
and carried out scores of attacks in the build-up to the first
round and on election day.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, November 03, 2009, 15:43