Taliban declared the so-called 'London Conference' a waste of time

The leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan says the 60-nation "conference on Afghanistan" in London will be a waste of time if it does not entirely focus on withdrawal of foreign forces from the country, Iranian TV channel PressTV reported.

In a statement published on Wednesday, the Mujahideen command said "the outcome of the summit will be as disappointing as of the meetings in Paris and Tokyo, if it does not consider the reality of Afghanistan".

Ahead of the summit, a Taliban spokesman, Zabihuallh Mujahid, said the only solution to Western countries is to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan. To bring peace to the country, the statement said, all detainees in Guantanamo Bay and Bagram prisons should be released.

The Taliban, he said, will continue to fight foreign forces to free the country from occupation.

The United States and its allies are trying to find a way out of the situation after 9 years of war that failed to bring victory for the West in Afghanistan, but only strengthened the Taliban positions.

One of the plans discussed in London is a payoff for Taliban and an offer "to join the government of national concord". 500 million dollars are allocated for this purpose.

A representative of the US occupation in Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, says the plan will ostensibly "force the Taliban to lay down their weapons and stop resisting foreign forces".

Holbrooke even announced that "two-thirds of Taliban could be pardoned as they are not engaged in extremism".

Department of Monitoring,
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2010/01/29/11317.shtml.