Afghanistan invaded to bring Al Qaeda-harboring Taliban to justice? But US "puppet" Karzai today calls on "Taliban brothers to come home"?

(Telegraph) -- Hamid Karzai offered an olive branch to his "Taliban brothers" in a victory speech a day after he was declared president. He promised an inclusive government and said he would "eradicate the stain of corruption" as his foreign backers pressured him to clean up his regime. In a televised speech he said: "We call on our Taliban brothers to come home and embrace their land"...

Nearly 110,000 Nato-led troops are now fighting the worsening insurgency, with Barack Obama currently deciding whether to send up to 40,000 reinforcements. So far this year, 87 British troops have died in southern Afghanistan as they pushed into Taliban strongholds and attempted to secure territory so Afghans could vote. Mr Karzai made his remarks as the Taliban issued a statement ridiculing him as a foreign "puppet".The statement said the elections had shown "decisions on Afghanistan are made in Washington and London, while the announcements are made in Kabul." It added: "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."

Mr Karzai, 51, was declared president after Abdullah Abdullah, his former foreign minister, withdrew saying any second round would be a rerun of the fraud-blighted Aug 20 poll...Cont'd...LINK