Taliban hope talks with US to remove misunderstandings

WASHINGTON (NNI): The Afghanistan ruling Taliban have expressed the hope that their recent negotiations with the United States would yield positive results and help remove misunderstandings between the two sides.

"Our talks and discussions have a positive result and they help remove the misunderstandings. Such talks will also be held in the future, Amir Khan Muttaqi, who headed the Taliban team in the parleys told VoA in an interview.

Muttaqi said there was no difficulty from the Afghan side, and expressed hope that the matter would be resolved if such meetings continued. "We have been making efforts for solution of the problem and we are ready for resolving the issue through talks," he said.

US Assistant Secretary of State, Karl Inderfurth and State Departments Coordinator on Terrorism, Michael Sheehan held talks with a Taliban delegation, headed by Ameer Khan Muttaqi, in Islamabad Thursday.

The talks particularly focussed on extradition of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden for his alleged involvement in terrorist activities. The Taliban turned down the US request to hand over Osama for trial, but also assured that he would not be allowed to use the Afghan soil for terrorist activities.

The Afghan official said that the Americans were told that the Osama threat was no more existent and he was under restrictions in Afghanistan. He said that the US rejected Afghanistans proposals to settle the issue.

"We told them that we had in the past proposed three solutions, to send relevant incriminating document to the Afghan Supreme Court, to get Osama monitored by the OIC and to decide the issue by Islamic scholars of three countries. However, none of these was accepted."

"We also told them that if our proposals are not acceptable to them, they should themselves present any proposal which is in accordance with Islamic principles and the Afghan traditions," Muttaqi said

Muttaqi said that the Osamas issue had become a national and Islamic problem for Afghanistan, and this was not only the stand of the Islamic Emirate. He supported the point, alluding to the Afghan reaction on imposition of UN sanctions against Afghanistan.

The Afghan official said that the US was told not to rely on intelligence reports from the enemies of Afghanistan which might worsen the bilateral ties.

"They listened to us patiently and we agreed that efforts should be made to find out a solution to the issue. We have been making efforts for solution of the problem and we are ready for resolving the issue through talks."

Muttaqi said the Islamic Emirate wanted solution of the problem and not its prolongation.