Kabul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday again urged the Taliban to join peace negotiations and pleaded with them to stop attacking schools in the war-torn country.
The Afghan government and its international partners have in recent weeks been avidly pursuing peace talks with the Taliban, but it is still unclear whether the insurgents are willing to engage in such a process.
"We are not afraid of guns and bombs," Karzai said in an emotional speech marking the first day of school after Afghan New Year holidays. "But don't burn the schools of your sons. Don't burn the schools of your daughters."
As he has done more insistently in recent weeks, Karzai addressed the Taliban directly, in Dari and in Pashto, the mother-tongue of the Taliban.
"The school you're burning — it's your school," said the Afghan leader. "Don't destroy the future of this poor suffering nation that finally has some opportunities. Don't destroy it."
School campuses and their employees have been targeted by the Taliban, which has repeatedly threatened to attack anyone working with international troops or the Afghan government, deemed by rebels as an illegitimate client state.
"Come and be happy in your country. It's your house. It's your homeland," Karzai said in his speech at Amani High School in Kabul.
