Taliban a terrorist organisation, says Krishna

NEW YORK: India today said it does not make any distinction between a "good Taliban and a bad Taliban" and consider the extremist group as a terrorist organisation.

"Taliban per se from the Indian point of view is a sheer terrorist organisation," External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said here when asked about his reported remark seeking a political settlement in Afghanistan.

Denying the report, Krishna said, "India makes no distinction between a good Taliban and a bad Taliban." He said he had spoken about a "political settlement among the people."

"What the people of Afghanistan want is something that they have to decide for themselves," he added.

In a recent interview published in the Wall Street Journal, Krishna was reported as saying that India believed there was no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and that NATO combat operations should give way to a political settlement with Taliban.