Afghan president calls for forgiveness of Taliban

KABUL - President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday asked God to forgive Afghan Taliban killed in the fighting in their homeland, but called on international forces to hit the insurgents at their training bases outside the country.

Afghanistan is suffering from a steady increase in violence that has killed more than 5,000 people this year alone, with neither the Western-backed Afghan government nor the Taliban having gained any significant advantage.

"Today ... is a day we should remember those families who have lost loved ones in different terrorist acts like bombs and suicide attacks," Karzai said after prayers to mark the Eid al-Adha Muslim festival.

"Today I also ask forgiveness from God for those Afghans who have been killed in the fight against the homeland if they are Taliban or otherwise," he said.

Taliban insurgents are fighting a guerrilla campaign in the south and east of the country, backed by suicide bomb attacks across the country aimed at sapping the will of Karzai's government and NATO-led troops to fight a war without end.

Karzai has repeatedly called on Afghan Taliban to make peace with the government and has offered talks with moderate insurgents to try to bring an end to the conflict.

Afghanistan, he said, "is not a stronghold of terrorism, Afghanistan is a victim of terrorism. The strongholds are outside Afghanistan, they get trained and equipped abroad".

Karzai did not mention any country, but Afghan and foreign officials have repeatedly said Taliban and allied al Qaeda fighters use Pakistan's lawless tribal regions bordering Afghanistan as a safe haven.

International forces, Karzai said, "should fight against terrorism together with the Afghan people. They should go to the bases, the hideouts and to places that terrorists get training".

Pakistan acknowledges Taliban fighters are present on its territory, but insists its own forces will tackle the problem, strongly opposing the intervention of U.S.-led and NATO forces based in Afghanistan.

Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, in his Eid message, called on foreign forces to withdraw from Afghanistan.