Kabul:
US Secretary of State John Kerry downplayed differences with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on an officially unannounced trip to Kabul on Monday. In an hour long press conference, Mr Kerry said, "I am confident President Karzai does not believe the US has any interest except to see the Taliban come to the table to make peace. So we're on the same page. I don't think there is any disagreement between us and I am comfortable with his explanation."
That explanation was in the form of an accusation that the media misinterpreted his 11th of March remarks. President Karzai said, "I never used the word collusion between the Taliban and the U.S. Those were not my words. Those were the words picked up by the media."
Most international media had reported the President as saying the Taliban were colluding with America, provoking sharp reactions. Nuances of his Pashto speech back the President's claims as having been lost in translation.
In Monday's press conference, President Karzai clarified saying that if the Taliban wanted foreign troops to leave they should stop killing Afghan civilians, while talking to the U.S abroad. His March 11 speech followed the killing of civilians in a suicide attack targeting the Defence Ministry.
President Karzai also confirmed himself what NDTV had reported on Saturday - that he will travel soon to Qatar to open an office for talks with the Taliban. In January, the US and Afghan Presidents had announced an agreement to open a Taliban office in Qatar. Hamid Karzai dismissed skeptical media questions saying individual contacts had been made and the Taliban wanted to talk. The Taliban officially have rejected that claim saying they will not deal with a puppet government. But, Karzai has drawn clear red lines - saying the office could not be used for propaganda or raising funds and the group needs to renounce the Al Qaeda and violence.
Secretary Kerry endorsed Afghan-led reconciliation reiterating the U.S would not abandon Afghanistan post 2014 with the warning, " I'd just say to the Taliban that the President of the United States has made it clear that the United States of America is committed beyond 2014 to the government of Afghanistan and to this legitimate, democratic political process. The Taliban can choose to be part of that, and they know how, or if they're on the outside, continuing to be violent, I believe the people of Afghanistan, as they did the other day in Kandahar, will rise up and say we're not going to tolerate this."
The two leaders' comments on possible reconciliation talks with the Taliban came on a day there was agreement as well on handing over a key US detention centre. The Parwan prison on the Bagram airbase was finally 'almost' completely handed over to Afghan control hours before Secretary Kerry landed.