KABUL - President Karzai's National Security Advisor Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta, in an exclusive interview with Tolo news, said the Taliban should be referred to as terrorists.
Karzai's National Security Advisor said that freedom of the media, women's rights and democracy that are the main gains of the Afghan government over a decade, should be seriously considered in peace talks with the Taliban.

The government's achievement over the past ten years should not be strained in the peace talks with the Taliban, Mr. Spanta said.
The Afghan government is ready to hold peace talks with the Taliban, but the main achievements of the government including human rights, freedom of expression, parliamentary elections, presidential elections, freedom of the media and gender equality between men and women will be defended, he said.
Mr Spanta said the Taliban should accept the Afghan constitution as an initial precondition to peace talks.

"Based on the discussion I have had with the president, he also believes that the government achievements should not be harmed in the talks," he said.
The Taliban are terrorists and the Afghan media should also refer to them as terrorists rather than opposition or anti-government armed group, he said.
"We are talking about terrorists, not opposition. And I want to say that it's dangerous that Afghan media replace their terminology with those used by foreign media sources," he said.

In response to a question about Pakistan's concern about Afghan-India strategic agreement, he said these relations would never endanger Pakistan's security and the Afghan government would never let any country, including India, to use Afghan soil against Pakistan's national interests. (Tolo News)