Afghan president says talks with Taliban useless

Kabul, Oct 2: Afghan President Hamid Karzai says trying to talk peace with insurgents is futile and that neighbouring Pakistan, not the Taliban, needs to be the other party in the peace talks.

The president's remarks came on a video recording that his office released. Karzai has been pushing for years to reconcile with the Taliban.

He says that effort is no longer viable since a suicide bomber claiming to be a peace emissary from the Taliban killed former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani at his home on September 20. Rabbani was leading Karzai's effort to broker peace with the Taliban.

Karzai says the only way forward is for Afghanistan to negotiate with Pakistan.

AP