KANDAHAR, May 20: The Taliban dismissed on Saturday charges by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that their insurgency was rooted in Pakistan and described reports that a top commander was captured as “propaganda to hide defeat”.

“Karzai is lying,” said a statement read to journalists by a man who said he was a spokesman for the movement.

“Through false information, Karzai is attempting to divert the attention of world and the Afghan public,” said the statement read to AFP by purported spokesman Mohammad Hanif.

“Our struggle is a national struggle against invading foreign troops,” he said.

The comments were said to have been issued by the Taliban leadership council, which includes the ousted regime’s fugitive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

The statement rejected allegations Karzai made on Thursday that elements in Pakistan were supporting Taliban-led militants who have been waging an insurgency in Afghanistan since being toppled by a US-led invasion in 2001.

More than 30,000 international soldiers are in Afghanistan, the bulk of them helping Afghan forces battle an insurgency launched by the Taliban after they were removed from government.

Karzai said that religious hardliners in Pakistan were sending their students over the border to fight holy war in Afghanistan, where vast swathes of territory are ruled by tribes outside of his government’s control.—AFP