KABUL - President Hamid Karzai and US Secretary of State John Kerry recently had testy exchanges on the issue of reconciliation between the Afghan government and the Taliban, an official said on Friday.

During an hour-long telephonic conversation with Kerry a week back, Karzai made clear the Afghans would never allow their country’s return to instability and anarchy.

While acknowledging the need for national reconciliation, Karzai said his nation’s genuine desire for peace should not be misused as a tool of promoting outsiders’ nefarious designs.

One senior official familiar with the unusually long phone conversation confided to Pajhwok Afghan News that the discussion hoted up when Kerry tended to intercede with the president on behalf of the Taliban.

He recalled the US had adopted a similar pro-Taliban stance at meetings in Washington, London and Brussels. The Americans were pushing for opening Taliban's political bureau in Qatar on terms and conditions that would make the office look like a diplomatic mission, the official said.

Afghanistan would run the risk of sliding back into warlordism and lawlessness if the Taliban and US terms were accepted, warned the source, who alleged some foreigners literally acted like representatives of the insurgent movement.

"We have been sparring with Western officials, particularly with Americans, over the past six months on why they have been throwing their weight behind the fighters. This is a pretty bizarre situation," the official remarked. (Pajhwok)