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Taliban say insurgency won't end despite effort to engage in talks

Other News Materials 12 January 2012 13:35 (UTC +04:00)
The Afghan Taliban on Thursday said it would not give up its insurgency against the government and NATO forces now that it was setting up a liaison office in the Gulf to engage with the world.
Taliban say insurgency won't end despite effort to engage in talks

The Afghan Taliban on Thursday said it would not give up its insurgency against the government and NATO forces now that it was setting up a liaison office in the Gulf to engage with the world, DPA reported.

In an online statement, the Taliban said they have stepped up political efforts to achieve "mutual understanding with the world, in order to solve the current ongoing situation."

This month the Taliban announced it would open a liaison office in Qatar. The move came a decade after the start of their insurgency against the US-led forces that toppled their regime in 2001 following the September 11 attacks in the United States.

"This understanding does not mean a surrender from jihad (holy war) and neither is it connected to an acceptance of the constitution of the stooge Kabul administration," the insurgents said in the statement.

Afghan and Western officials hope the move would lead to peace talks with the United States that could end the conflict.

Western countries engaged in the conflict in Afghanistan have committed to withdrawing by the end of 2014, despite concerns that national security forces will not be ready to take charge.

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