A deputy for fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar on Monday rejected an offer from Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, to “get in touch” if he wanted peace. Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, defense minister in the Taliban government ousted by U.S.-backed forces in 2001, called Karzai an “American puppet” who should be tried in an Islamic court. “Hamid Karzai, the American agent, has turned Afghanistan into an American base and has killed thousands of Afghans,” Akhund told Reuters by satellite phone from a secret location. Full Story