Kabul , Afghanistan ( CNN ) -- The Taliban will permit a program of polio vaccination in the volatile Afghanistan-Pakistan border area , their spokesman told CNN in an e-mail Tuesday , after consistent pressure over the issue . The statement comes a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on the Taliban and other insurgents to allow the vaccination teams to help save children from a lifetime of paralysis . It marks the Taliban 's latest move to garner respectability amid attempts to get peace talks under way in the region . Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said insurgents had been instructed to let the vaccinations take place provided aid workers do not use government facilities . `` The polio vaccinators must not use government resources , including vehicles and soldiers , and they should use their own resources so that they impartially execute their program , '' Mujahid said . He added the Taliban have always backed vaccinations . The statement to CNN came the same day that the presidential palace appealed to the Taliban to let the vital program take place unhindered . `` Despite all the past efforts to vaccinate millions against polio , there are still children suffering from the disease on both sides of the Durand Line , '' Karzai said . The Durand Line is the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan . The statement from the palace added : `` The president appeals to religious scholars , mullahs and community leaders and elders to cooperate with the immunization teams by persuading the opposition to allow vaccinators to administer polio drops to children against the permanent paralysis . '' According to World Health Organization , there are four countries in which the transmission of polio has never been stopped : Afghanistan , India , Nigeria and Pakistan . They face a range of challenges , such as insecurity , weak health systems and poor sanitation . Polio could spread from these `` endemic '' countries to infect children in other countries with less-than-adequate vaccination , the organization says . Reports from the Afghan Ministry of Public Health show a threefold rise in the number of polio cases in 2011 compared with that of 2010 . A ministry report that covered 2011 showed 80 cases in Afghanistan , 62 of which were in the south of the country , the government statement said .
Taliban spokesman : `` The polio vaccinators must not use government resources '' The spokesman says the Taliban have always supported vaccinations . Recommend0