Karzai meets Taliban-linked cleric

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Karzai meets Taliban-linked cleric

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The Afghan president Hamid Karzai met with a Pakistani cleric linked to Taliban insurgents.

19 February,2012 04:20 am

The Afghan president met Saturday with a Pakistani cleric linked to Taliban insurgents, a meeting that marked the first public contact between an Afghan official and members of the Afghan Talibans support network in Pakistan in Afghanistans bid to bring the militant movement to the negotiating table.The meeting between President Hamid Karzai and the cleric was held in Islamabad said the cleric and Afghan officials, and shows how far the Afghan president is willing to go to open contact with the insurgent leaders.The Taliban leaders are widely believed to be based in Pakistan with some level of protection by the countrys security forces. The U.S. and Afghanistan increasingly see negotiating with the Taliban as the only way to end the more than ten years of warfare in Afghanistan and allow American troops to leave the country without it falling further into chaos.Speaking to The Associated Press, the cleric, Maulana Samiul Haq, said Karzai asked for his help in bringing the militant movements leadership into peace negotiations and to help establish contacts with the Taliban leadership. Haq said he told Karzai that he would help in the noble cause as long as it was clear what was wanted from the Taliban. Karzai was in Pakistan on a trip to gain the countrys cooperation in the nascent peace process.I told him to take steps to gain some confidence of the Taliban. They do not trust you, Haq said he told Karzai. I told him that if you take a clear position on what you can offer the Taliban, and what you want from the Taliban, God willing, I will contribute in this noble cause.Hamed Elmi, deputy spokesman for Karzais office, confirmed the meeting took place.Haq runs a large seminary where many of the insurgent leaders once studied and reportedly still provides recruits for the Taliban fighting in Afghanistan. He is known in some circles as the Father of the Taliban, but its unclear how much sway he has currently with the movement.Karzai met Haq in an Islamabad hotel, not his seminary closer to the Afghan border where he regularly preaches the virtues of jihad in Afghanistan to thousands of students.Karzais trip reinforces the centrality of Pakistan to the peace process.During Karzais three-day trip to Pakistan, he held a number of meetings with political and religious figures in an attempt to push forward the peace process.An aide to another hardline Islamist cleric, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, also said he met Saturday with the Afghan leader.Karzai also met a delegation of a pro-Taliban Pakistani political party, Jamiat Ulema Pakistan. The partys seminaries in Pakistan recruited and trained Taliban militants who fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan.Senator Maulana Ghafoor Haidri led the delegation and said the meeting took place on Thursday.He said he welcomed Karzais peace efforts, and promised him his partys support in ending the war.