Taliban slams US troops plan

A suicide car bomber killed seven people in Kabul yesterday as the Taliban warned that Washington's decision to slow the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan will hamper peace efforts.

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday reversed plans to withdraw around 5,000 US troops from Afghanistan this year, an overture to the country's new reform-minded leader, President Ashraf Ghani.

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Hosting Ghani at the White House for their first presidential head-to-head, Obama agreed to keep the current level of 9,800 US troops in Afghanistan until the end of 2015.

"Obama's announcement to continue to keep troops in Afghanistan is a response to the peace efforts," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP.

"This damages all the prospects for peace. This means the war will go on until they are defeated," he said.

Hours later, a suicide car bomber struck close to the presidential palace in Kabul , killing at least seven people and wounding dozens more.

It is the first suicide bombing in the Afghan capital in nearly a month and highlights the fragile security situation as the country prepares for the start of the traditional spring-summer fighting season.

Ghani condemned the attack as "inhuman and un-Islamic", while police said the target of the rush-hour blast appeared to be civilians.

The Taliban, who have waged a bloody insurgency since being toppled from power in 2001 in a US-led invasion, have always denied talks with the government.They maintain they will not negotiate while foreign troops remain on Afghan soil.

Nato's combat mission ended in December, leaving the 350,000-strong Afghan security forces to lead the fight against the Taliban.

The joint US-Afghan decision means they will have air and other crucial US support through this year's fighting season, which begins in weeks.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's military said it had killed 30 militants in air strikes on a tribal region near the Afghan border as part of a major anti-insurgent offensive that began last year. The strikes hit the strategic Tirah valley in Khyber tribal district, where the Pakistani Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam groups have strongholds.