Karzai denies Taleban come-back

By Lyse Doucet BBC correspondent in Kabul

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has strongly rejected reports of a growing Taleban resurgence in his country.

In a BBC interview in Kabul, he conceded that Taleban fighters may be threatening individual Afghans and foreigners, as well as himself.

But he said they did not threaten the political process or the stability of the country.

He also said he had asked US forces to reconsider aerial attacks when pursuing individual Taleban suspects.

Our reconstruction, our efforts for peace, will not stop Hamid Karzai Video of Taleban activities

Fifteen children were killed in such an attack earlier this month.

Mr Karzai, speaking on the World Service's Newshour programme, said Taleban forces - "terrorists", as he called them - did not succeed in stopping elections to choose delegates to the loya jirga, or grand assembly, which is due to discuss a new constitution for the country.

But he admitted they have been targeting foreign aid workers and Afghans, and he added that they would continue to do so.

'Defiant message'

Mr Karzai angrily refuted a United Nations reports which said the Taleban was now taking advantage of popular disaffection, particularly in southern and eastern areas of the country, where Taleban fighters have been moving back and forth across the border with neighbouring Pakistan.

He said he understood why the UN withdrew most of its foreign staff from these areas. But he declared reconstruction would continue with an Afghan alternative.

We are fighting terrorism in order to bring better security to Afghan people, so the pursuit of terrorists should not become a cause of the suffering of Afghan people Hamid Karzai

It was a defiant message from a government still struggling to provide basic services across this country.

I also asked the president about the more aggressive campaign by US forces to track down Taleban.

The president admitted that mistakes, such as the deaths of the 15 children, had put a lot of political pressure on him.

He said he had asked the Americans to reconsider whether aerial attacks were useful in the pursuit of individual suspects.

"We don't want Afghans to suffer any more," he said.

That, he said, was the purpose of toppling the Taleban two years ago.