KABUL — The Taleban on Wednesday dismissed a new strategic pact signed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his US counterpart Barack Obama as “illegitimate”.The two presidents signed the deal to govern Afghan-US relations after foreign combat troops withdraw in 2014 in Kabul during a brief visit by Obama.
In a statement posted on the Voice of Jihad website, the militants, who have waged a bloody insurgency since a US-led invasion toppled them from power in 2001, said Karzai was not authorised to sign the document.
The Taliban “deems this document the selling-document of Afghanistan by a powerless puppet (Karzai) to his invading master and condemns it in worst possible terms”, the statement said.
The Taliban “as the true representative of the Islamic nation of Afghanistan with all its strength will continue to its armed Jihad (holy war) against all the contents of this illegitimate document until the full withdrawal of all invading forces and their puppets from Afghanistan”, it added.
Earlier on Wednesday — the first anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by US special forces — Taleban bombers attacked a heavily fortified guesthouse complex near Kabul used by Western groups including the European Union and UN.
Seven people were killed in the attack, which the Taliban said was staged to mark the start of their annual “spring offensive”.
