Rabbani assassin had brought a message of peace from Taliban

At a news conference,Karzai said the CD was a trick to allow the assassin to get an appointment with Rabbani,who led the countrys High Peace Council.

The suicide bomber who killed Burhanuddin Rabbani gained access to him by presenting officials beforehand with an audio recording of a purported Taliban peace offer,President Hamid Karzai said Thursday.

At a news conference,Karzai said the CD was a trick to allow the assassin to get an appointment with Rabbani,who led the countrys High Peace Council. Karzais remarks offered new details about Rabbanis death,which dealt a devastating blow to efforts of negotiating a peace settlement with the Taliban to end the decade-long war.

Karzai said that before he left for New York last weekend,one of his advisers,Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai,told him that the Taliban had a message for the Afghan peace council.

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Stanekzai brought me a message that someone had come from the Taliban movement and brought with them an audio CD in which there was a message from a Taliban representative, Karzai said.

The president said he listened to the audio before leaving to attend the UN General Assembly. The voice on the recording spoke respectfully about Rabbani,he said. There were a couple of questions and suggestions regarding peace.

Karzai said he then talked with Rabbani,who rushed back home from a trip to Iran to listen to the recording.AMIR SHAH & DEB RIECHMANN

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