PARIS (AFP/Reuters) - Afghanistans President Hamid Karzai hopes to hold peace talks with the Taliban within 100 days if he is re-elected, he told the French daily Le Figaro in an interview published on Monday. But Karzai insisted he would not sit down with any faction that refuses to cut its links with Al-Qaeda or fails to respect the Afghan constitution. He implicitly confirmed Saudi Arabia is involved in trying to broker talks between his government and the militia, who were driven from power in 2001 and are now fighting an insurgency against Afghan and NATO forces. Karzai also said he thought that US President Barack Obama was more ready than his predecessor George W Bush to countenance talks with the Taliban in order to find a way out of the eight-year-old conflict. Asked whether he was ready to talk to the Taliban, Karzai replied: Its something that Ill do in these first 100 days. Ive noticed a change of attitude on the part of President Obama, compared to his predecessor. But be careful - and its something that Saudi Arabia should remember - theres no question of a dialogue with Taliban who dont renounce their links with Al-Qaeda or who refuse to recognise the Afghan constitution. Karzai said a NATO air strike believed to have killed scores of Afghan civilians was a major error of judgement by German forces. Germany again defended the decision of its commander in the area to call in the raid last week and brushed off suggestions restrictions it places on its soldiers had prevented them from approaching the scene and from fighting ground battles. General (Stanley) McChrystal telephoned me to apologise and to say that he himself hadnt given the order to attack, Karzai told Le Figaro, referring to the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Why didnt they send in ground troops to recover the fuel tank? Karzai asked. German Defence Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe on Monday said the decision to call in the strike was based on information which pointed to the presence of armed Taliban near the tankers. He rejected suggestions that a German reluctance to shoot first in combat was behind a decision not to send ground troops to secure the fuel trucks, which were parked in a riverbed.