President Karzai announced a timetable for the first round of peace talks with the Taliban yesterday as US troops admitted that they may have bombed an Afghan army base by mistake. The Afghan President said that a grand assembly would be convened within the next six weeks to give the Taliban and other insurgent groups the opportunity to speak face-to-face to the Government. It is not clear whether any militants will attend. The assembly would precede a major international donor conference in Kabul, Mr Karzai said. Speaking in Kabul for the first time since he returned from last weeks London conference, Mr Karzai called on militants in Pakistan to return home and make peace so that US-led forces could withdraw. The Taliban have called repeatedly for all foreign forces to leave Afghanistan as a precondition of talks. Mr Karzai insisted the insurgents should return to their own country and work for peace in order for us to be able to have the US and other forces to be able to have the freedom to go back home. The international community is here for success in the defeat of terrorism, success in the defeat of extremism, he said. Therefore, they have to be satisfied that they have achieved their objective before they can leave. The conference was proposed as details emerged of an attack south of the capital that left four Afghan soldiers dead and at least seven injured. A spokesman for the Wardak provincial governors office said that US special forces called in an airstrike on an Afghan army outpost in Sayedabad late on Friday night. The Ministry of Defence in Kabul demanded that the soldiers involved should face justice. Besides expressing heartfelt condolences to the families of the martyrs, the Afghan Defence Ministry is condemning this incident, officials said. Brigadier General Eric Tremblay, a coalition spokesman, insisted foreign troops work extremely hard to co-ordinate and synchronize our operations. He said: This is a regrettable incident and our thoughts go out to the families of those killed and wounded. Afghan troops in a remote outpost mistook the American patrol for insurgents and opened fire. Nato said that the Americans, on a joint patrol with Afghan commandos, returned fire before calling in an airstrike. Initial post-operational reports indicate the small arms fire originated from an Afghan National Army (ANA) combat outpost, and the subsequent air support called by the joint force likely killed at least four ANA soldiers, Natos International Security Assistance Force said in a statement. Hours earlier, an interpreter opened fire at a base in the same province, killing two US soldiers before being shot. A US official said that the attacker was understood to be a disgruntled employee rather than an insurgent. Afghan authorities confirmed the account, saying that the interpreter had argued with troops over pay. (The Times)