Taliban ridicules 'puppet' Hamid Karzai

The Taliban today ridiculed Hamid Karzai as a "puppet president" after he was handed another five-year term in office, accusing Western powers of deciding to cancel Afghanistan's election run-off.

"The cancellation of the second round of the election showed that decisions on Afghanistan are made in Washington and London, while the announcements are made in Kabul," a Taliban statement said.

"What is astonishing is two weeks ago they were arguing that the puppet president Hamid Karzai was involved in electoral fraud... but now he is elected as president based on those same fraudulent votes, Washington and London immediately send their congratulations."

In a press conference today, Karzai offered an olive branch to his Taliban "brothers" and urged them "to come home and embrace their land".

The Taliban, whose fighters have strongholds in the south and along the porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border, were driven out of Kabul in late 2001 by US-led coalition forces, paving the way for Karzai to take power.

The president has issued a number of similar appeals to the Taliban in the past, offering an amnesty to its fugitive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

The Taliban, however, condemned the electoral process and carried out scores of attacks in the build-up to the first round and on election day.