Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president has offered peace talks with the Taliban after the bloodiest year since the group was driven from power in 2001.

Karzai made his offer while speaking at a religious gathering in Kabul on one of the holiest days of the Shia Islamic calendar on Monday.

Karzai told a crowd at the religious gathering: "While we are fighting for our honour, we still open the door for talks and negotiations with our enemy who is after our annihilation and is shedding our blood."

Nato's secretary-general, however, did not agree with Karzai's sentiments.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said: "There was no point in negotiating with the Taliban, since they were only interested in harming Afghanistan and undermining efforts to build democracy."

Interviewed on German television, Scheffer was asked if he believed that there could be peace talks with the Taliban.

"I don't think so, not when you're dealing with people who have the goal of destroying the reconstruction and democracy," he said from Berlin where he was attending a conference on European defence policy.

"You can't negotiate with them. I can't imagine that Nato would negotiate with people who kill children or teachers in school."

Karzai has previously offered amnesty to those Taliban he and others regarded as "moderate", but on Monday he made no such distinctions.

Escalating violence

No senior Taliban commander or leader has surrendered or joined the government as part of past efforts to bring them into the mainstream and senior leaders have ridiculed such calls as a sign of weakness.

More than 4,000 people, including about 170 foreign soldiers, have died in fighting in 2006, which saw a dramatic jump in suicide bombings. Taliban commanders have also given warning of a large summer offensive this year.

Nato has 32,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan.

Taliban forces have vowed to drive out foreign troops and overthrow Karzai and his government.

PHOTO CAPTION

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai (R) pins a medal on General David Richards, British Commander of NATO in Afghanistan, in Kabul January 29, 2007. (REUTERS)

Al-Jazeera