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Pak-Afghan meeting mulls talks with Taliban

US considering talks with militants

AFP, Islamabad/ Washington
Pakistani and Afghan officials and tribal ciders Tuesday discussed the possibility of holding talks with Taliban militants to try to end deadly violence on their porous border, officials said.
Fifty delegates were meeting on the second day of a "mini-jirga" in Islamabad, following up from a major tribal council held in August 2007 between the two key allies in the US-led "war on terror".
In the run-up to the meeting there was a flurry of reports that the US-backed Afghan government was in secret negotiations with top Taliban commanders in a bid to end the bloodshed.
The Pakistani foreign office would not confirm details of the discussions between the delegates, who are drawn from political parties as well as from the ethnic Pashtun tribes that straddle the border.
"They are meeting in two committees which will then report to the overall meeting," foreign office
spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told AFP.
But a senior Pakistani official said that they brought up the subject of talks with the Taliban, a hardline Islamist movement that ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001 and now has roots on both sides of the border.
"There is an effort to come up with suggestions and modalities for opening talks with theTaliban,” said the official, who was involved in organising the meeting but spoke under condition of anonym Ity.
"They arc discussing what is the best way forward, whether there has been a change in the atmosphere in Pakistan and Afghanistan (that would allow talks). It is not an isolated meeting," added the official.
Violence has soared on both sides of the border in recent months, with Washington and Kabul urging Islamabad to tackle militant "safe havens” in Pakistan's tribal belt.
Pakistan has also suffered a
wave of suicide attacks.
The jirga was expected to appoint five delegates from each country to establish contact and hold peace talks with "armed opposition groups," The News daily reported.
Sources within the council did not confirm the numbers involved, but told AFP they would form a group that would be sanctioned by the Afghan and Pakistani militaries and governments to "engage the Taliban in serious negotiations for finding a peaceful solution."
Meanwhile, the United States is considering taking part in talks with elements of the Taliban in a sharp change in tactics in Afghanistan, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday citing unnamed officials.
"Senior White House and military officials believe that engaging some levels of the Taliban -- while excluding top leaders -- could help reverse a pronounced downward spiral in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan," the paper said on its website.