US holding talks with Taliban

The US is holding talks with the Taliban, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said yesterday, in the first official confirmation of such contacts after nearly 10 years of war.

Although diplomats and officials say talks are at a very early stage, Karzai’s remarks highlight the increasing focus on finding a political solution in Afghanistan as foreign combat troops prepare to pull out by 2014.

“Talks with the Taliban have started... the talks are going on well,” Karzai said, addressing a conference in Kabul.

“Also foreign forces, especially the United States, are carrying out the talks themselves.”

But the problems surrounding any reconciliation bid were thrown into sharp focus shortly afterwards when nine people died as three Taliban attackers armed with suicide vests and machine guns stormed a Kabul police station.

The militants have consistently rejected any efforts to talk peace in public statements.

“We have already said this and have repeated it many times. We have no negotiation with the United States and we deny any report as such,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP.

The US Embassy in Kabul did not respond to a request for comment on the latest remarks from Karzai, who is known for dropping unscripted, headline-grabbing remarks into speeches.

Western officials acknowledge on condition of anonymity that attempts to set up contacts with the Taliban are at a very early stage, while efforts to open up a communication channel with Taliban leaders are still being made.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier this year called on Taliban members to split from Al-Qaeda, renounce violence and accept the constitution so they can be reintegrated into society.

And US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on a visit to Kabul this month that there could be talks with the Taliban by the end of the year if foreign troops make sufficient gains.

A report last month in Der Spiegel magazine claimed Germany was helping to mediate secret, direct talks between the US and the Taliban on German soil while the New Yorker magazine reported last February that the US had begun direct discussions with senior Taliban figures.

Karzai’s comments came the day after the UN Security Council agreed to split the international sanctions regime for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

The move sends “a clear message to the Taliban that there is a future for those who separate from Al-Qaeda, renounce violence and abide by the Afghan constitution,” said Susan Rice, UN envoy for the US, which led the campaign for the division.

Afghan attempts to pursue talks with the Taliban have been public for months – Karzai last year set up a High Council for Peace to look at the issue.