Afghan Taliban reject UN ceasefire offer

The News International

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

PESHAWAR: Rejecting the United Nations ceasefire offer on the occasion of Eid and World Peace Day, the Taliban on Tuesday said the world body should force foreign countries to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan if it was interested in peace in the war-ravaged country.

"Taliban do not trust foreigners as they saw last year that foreign forces violated ceasefire in several areas," Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for Taliban, told the Afghan Islamic Press in Kandahar.

He said the Taliban wanted peace throughout the year but foreigners had proved that they did not want peace in Afghanistan. "We are not aggressors rather fighting in defence. Afghans have not attacked a country rather these are the foreigners who came to Afghanis-tan and started war here," he said. He said if the UN really wanted peace in Afghanistan it should force foreigners to withdraw troops and let the Afghans decide their fate.