Saudi visit, a plea for Taliban mediation: Karzai's brother

Kabul, Oct 10 : The elder brother of President Hamid Karzai has said that his visit to Saudi Arabia last month was part of an Afghan push for the kingdom to convene peace talks with Taliban insurgents.

Qayoum Karzai, the elder brother of the Afghan president, confirmed that no representatives of the militia were present at the meeting although the Afghan delegation had included former Taliban leaders.

"The Saudi king wants to help the people of Afghanistan in bringing peace so our trip was in that connection," The News quoted Qayoum Karzai, as saying.

"We briefed them about Afghanistan's situation, we told them about what is going on here, about our misery and asked them to mediate as an impartial country," he said.

This follows denials by the Afghan Government and the Taliban of media reports that the meeting had amounted to peace talks. Former Taliban have confirmed they were there but said there were no negotiations.

Qayoum Karzai said efforts started two-and-a-half years ago for talks to end the increasingly deadly Taliban insurgency, launched soon after the hardliners were ousted from government in a US-led invasion in late 2001.

There had been no direct talks with Taliban so far, said Karzai, who resigned as a member of parliament on Thursday citing illness.

ANI