“In the course of this year, there have been peace talks with the Taliban and our own countrymen,” Mr Karzai told a Kabul news conference on Saturday.

“Peace talks have started with them already and it is going well. Foreign militaries, especially the United States of America, are going ahead with these negotiations.”…

Our correspondent says the attack is part of the Taliban strategy to strike at the heart of government.

Paradoxically, he says, the greater the likelihood of peace talks, the more Nato and the Taliban will press their military campaigns in a bid to ensure they go into negotiations with an advantage.