India offers strong support to Karzai, despite misgivings about Taliban peace talks

New Delhi: India has offered unequivocal support to Afghan President Hamid Karzai as the embattled Afghan leader comes under increasing international pressure over his plan to include some Taliban leaders in reconciliation talks to end the nearly nine-year-old war in Afghanistan.

An estimated 1,400 Afghans representing Afghanistan's myriad of ethnic, regional and political factions are scheduled to gather for a so-called "peace jirga" next month to reach a national consensus for talking with the Taliban insurgents.

Although India has deep reservations about Karzai's distinctions between "good Taliban" and "bad Taliban," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured the Afghan president in a meeting on Monday that India supports him.