Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday vowed to persevere with efforts to broker peace with the Taliban as he led thousands of mourners at the funeral of his assassinated peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani. In a speech as Rabbani’s body lay in state at the presidential palace, Karzai insisted that the murder would not derail efforts to make contacts with insurgents, despite keeping up the fight.
“The blood of the martyred (Rabbani) and other martyrs of freedom requires us to continue our efforts until we reach peace and stability,” Karzai said. “We will continue our efforts to reach peace which was the wish of martyred ustad (professor) but at the same time, we consider it as our responsibility to fight the enemies of peace with determination.” Hundreds of Afghan dignitaries and foreign ambassadors earlier filed past the coffin, draped in the Afghan flag and covered in flowers, at the palace.
The body was buried on top of a hill overlooking the Afghan capital where hundreds of ordinary Afghans carrying pictures of Rabbani and banners had gathered to witness the burial, and where the angry scenes broke out. Mourners vowed to avenge Tuesday’s death of Rabbani, a prominent warlord in the fight to evict Soviet troops from Afghanistan in the 1980s who had a strong powerbase in the Tajik north.
