Afghanistan has again ruled out direct peace talks with the Taliban after the assassination of Kabul's top peace envoy by a suicide bomber posing as an insurgent messenger. Hamid Karzai said until his government had an "address" for the Taliban to open formal channels with the insurgents, they would only negotiate with neighbouring Pakistan. His continued rejection of direct talks risks undermining attempts by America and its allies to restart a political process after the September killing of Burhanuddin Rabbani by an assassin carrying explosives in his turban. The Afghan president said Kabul had worked with "immense dedication" to find Taliban leaders they could open talks with, only to be tricked by the killer posing as an envoy. The Afghan president said: "We can't continue talking to suicide bombers." "Therefore we have stopped talking about talking to the Taliban until we have an address for the Taliban, until we have a telephone for the Taliban. "Until that day we have said we will be talking to our brothers in Pakistan to find a solution to the problem that we have." The killing of Professor Rabbani in September was seen by many Kabul officials as a Taliban rejection of any peace process. Hamid Karzai said at the time that the killing meant there was no longer any point talking to the insurgents directly. However America and Britain are continuing to push a political settlement with the Taliban as part of their strategy to withdraw combat troops from the country by the end of 2014. Mr Karzai made his comments at a three-way summit in Istanbul where the Turkish hosts were hoping to repair strained ties between Kabul and Islamabad. Despite Mr Karzai's vow to deal with Islamabad, relations between the neighbours have been frayed following a string of spectacular attacks in Kabul, which have been blamed on Pakistan-based insurgents. Tempers have been further inflamed by a series of border skirmishes. Afghanistan has demanded Islamabad do more to reign in insurgents including the Haqqani network, which has havens in Pakistan and which it says is supported by Pakistan's military. Hamid Karzai said Islamabad had to change its policies. "President's Karzai's message is that Pakistan needs to stop using radicalisation as a tool in their politics," Emal Faizy, his spokesman, said. Jawed Ludin, Afghan deputy foreign minister, admitted there were "difficulties" in relations with Islamabad and said Pakistan had "move beyond words and expressions of commitment". "The test remains to be taken and that's the extent that we can see concrete steps to help with the peace process, but also cracking down on the Haqqani network and terrorist organisations that are destabilising the two countries." (The Telegraph)