Timing of Mehsud killing unsuitable: Karzai
- November 4, 2013, 8:11 pm
- World News
- 156 Views
KABUL Nov 4 (Online): Afghan President Hamid Karzai has criticised the "unsuitable" timing of the US killing of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud and expressed hope it will not derail regional peace efforts.
Karzai told a visiting US Congress delegation that the attack "took place at an unsuitable time but he hoped as a result the peace process is not harmed," said his office in a statement released late Sunday.
Karzai has been seeking to open peace talks with the Afghan Taliban to end 12 years of war, but the militants have refused to negotiate with the president s appointees, dismissing him as a puppet of Washington.
The Pakistan government has also been exploring peace moves with the Tehreek-e-Taliban, who are separate but linked to the Afghan group.
Karzai, who recently returned from talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in London, said fraught relations between Kabul and Islamabad had improved.
"The president said the meeting was one of the best with the Pakistani side and said he hoped that the attack the other day on the leader of the Pakistani Taliban was not harming the peace process in Pakistan and Afghanistan," his statement said.
