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Afghan govt terms Taliban

holy soar on Kabul 'ridiculous'

KABUL: The Afghan government on Thursday dismissed the Taliban militia's declaration of a holy war on Kabul as "ridiculous" and as a clear sign of an internal rift in the Islamic movement.

The Taliban launched the war, or jehad, on Wednesday and refused outright to negotiate an end to fighting around besieged Kabul, just a day after UN peace envoy to Afghanistan Mahmoud Mestiri told the government that the militiamen were ready for talks "tomorrow" (Friday).

Officials here said the apparent stark contradiction between the message conveyed by a top Taliban cadre to Mestiri and the one issued at a major meeting of Muslim clerics, or ulemas, in the movement's southern stronghold at Kandahar, simply served to highlight an ideological struggle within the faction.

The ulemas had criticised the "un-Islamic" character of President Burhanuddin Rabbani's regime, Afghan sources said. "The two vastly contrasting signals show that the divisions between the two opposing strands withing the Taliban leadership are now coming to the fore," a foreign ministry source told AFP.

The official said that indirect talks between the Taliban and Kabul were continuing through the intermediary of a powerful neutral political group based in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

"This fact further shows up the inconsistencies in their latest statement and the cracks in their organisation," he said, adding that Kabul was ready to honour an earlier offer to hold talks with the Islamic warriors who are trying to topple the government. Wednesday's declaration from Kandahar was a severe embarrassment to Mestiri who less than 24 hours earlier had told Rabbani of the militiamen's offer of talks, observers said. Mestiri told reporters before meeting Rabbani that the Taliban's second-in-command had for the first time proposed negotiations on ending the tense military stand-off between the two sides south of Kabul.-APP