Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai said Friday he met with Taliban representatives in attempts to bring peace to the country. «We have had representatives from the Taliban meeting with different bodies of Afghan government for a long time,» Karzai told a news conference in Kabul. «I have had some Taliban coming to speak to me as well,» he said. Karzai did not disclose any details of these meetings, or indicate if they included talks with senior Taliban leaders, the Associated Press reported. Karzai urged Afghan Taliban to lay down weapons and join his government, but ruled out any deals with foreign militants. «Afghan Taliban are always welcome, they belong to this country ... they are the sons of this soil,» Karzai said. «As they repent, as they regret, as they want to come back to their own country, they are welcome.»
