Thousands of rebels take Afghan amnesty offer

The Afghan Government says 2,300 rebels have taken up an amnesty offer since its launch in 2004.

President Hamid Karzai's administration launched the reconciliation program in a bid to win over the Taliban.

An insurgency led by the fundamentalist movement has since escalated.

Taliban leaders, including the extremists' chief, Mullah Mohammad Omar, are excluded from the offer.

National Reconciliation Commission head Sebghattullah Mujaddadi says military means are not the only solution to Afghanistan's chronic problems and much can be done through peaceful means.

He says Taliban leaders had asked to join the peace process, provided they were allowed to take part in political activities, but were rejected.

"Taliban elders have contacted us and asked for the right of political activities but we said 'no'," he said.

"You should surrender and join the peace process first."

Mr Mujaddadi says much of the violence in Afghanistan is created by Pakistan. He survived a suicide attack earlier this year, which he accused Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf of ordering.

Pakistan was the main backer of the Taliban regime, which ruled much of Afghanistan between 1996 until 2001.

It abandoned them under US pressure in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

- AFP