Afghan President Hamid Karzai has offered the Taliban a position in government if the group renounces violence, and Defence Minister Peter MacKay has supported the proposal.

The move, part of Karzai's stepped-up calls for negotiations in recent weeks, came as 30 people were killed by a bus blast in Kabul, the Afghan capital.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing.

Karzai offered Saturday to meet with Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former prime minister and factional warlord leader -- saying he would even meet on their territory.

"If I find their address, there is no need for them to come to me, I'll personally go there and get in touch with them," Karzai said.

"Esteemed Mullah, sir, and esteemed Hekmatyar, sir, why are you destroying the country?"

If a group of Taliban militants came to Karzai and offered to halt attacks in exchange for a role in government, he would accept, he said.

"If there will be a demand and a request like that to me, I will accept it because I want conflicts and fighting to end in Afghanistan."

"I wish there would be a demand as easy as this. I wish that they would want a position in the government. I will give them a position," he said.

He said he has contact with the militant group through tribal elders, but there is currently no direct line of communication with the Taliban.

There is no indication yet whether the offer will be accepted.

Speaking in Halifax on Saturday, Defence Minister Peter MacKay backed Karzai's proposal, if it meant an end to violence against NATO forces.

"If (the proposal) involves having the (Taliban) leadership accept those conditions and renounce the violence, then it's moving towards what we all want to see, and that is a stable, peaceful society in Afghanistan," he said.

Karzai renewed his calls for talks with the Taliban earlier in the month. A Taliban spokesperson initially said the group was open to negotiations, but later said talks would only happen if all foreign troops left the country.

That demand is unlikely to be met, as Karzai has called on NATO members -- including Canada -- in recent weeks to extend or boost their troop commitments to his country.

Karzai said Saturday the demand is impossible.

"It should be very clear until all our roads are paved, until we have good electricity and good water, and also until we have a better Afghan national army and national police, I don't want any foreigners to leave Afghanistan," he said.

But he said he still hopes to negotiate with Taliban militants. He said he wouldn't hold talks with al Qaeda or other foreign militants.

Sunil Ram, a professor of military history and land warfare with the American Military University, told CTV Newsnet that Karzai's decision makes sense.

"As it now stands the situation is untenable, and clearly to try and bring some level of stability to Afghanistan the Taliban have to be talked to," Ram said.

Neither NATO nor the Taliban has the ability to defeat the other militarily, so talks between the two sides are really the only way forward, Ram said.

"Ultimately we're going to have to come to a negotiated settlement at least to create a modicum of peace as opposed to the relative chaos that is sporadically all over the country."

He also said Karzai is right to have rejected the Taliban's terms for the talks, suggesting that if NATO nations pulled out of Afghanistan the Taliban would have little reason to deal with Karzai and could likely overthrow the government.

Daan Everts, NATO's ambassador to Afghanistan, has suggested growing numbers of Taliban are willing to lay down their arms and he said the group would look into the possibility of talks.

Kabul bombing

The deadly bombing in Kabul on Saturday blew the roof and sides off of a bus, leaving only the burned out shell of the vehicle.

"For 10 or 15 seconds, it was like an atom bomb -- fire, smoke and dust everywhere," Mohammad Azim, a police officer who witnessed the explosion told The Associated Press.

Thirty people were killed, including 28 soldiers and two civilians, Karzai said on Saturday.

Another 30 were wounded, according to the Health Ministry.

The bus had stopped to pick up soldiers in front of a movie theatre, when a bomber wearing an army uniform tried to board the bus at about 6:45 a.m., AP reports. The man blew himself up.

"It was a terrible tragedy, no doubt an act of extreme cowardice," Karzai said. "Whoever did this was against people, against humanity, definitely against Islam. A man who calls himself Muslim will not blow up innocent people in the middle of Ramadan," the Muslim holy month.

With files from The Associated Press