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Pakistani and Afghan leaders agree to seek talks with Taliban

The Associated Press
Published: October 28, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistani and Afghan leaders vowed Tuesday to seek talks with the Taliban, adding momentum to existing efforts to encourage dialogue with the militants and end the violence.

The pledge comes amid growing international recognition that talks with moderate members of the Taliban are needed, but could concern the United States, which has said previous peace deals in Pakistan allowed extremists to regroup.

The vow came after two days of meetings between influential political and tribal leaders and statesmen from both countries in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. The meeting, or jirga, was part of a process initiated by U.S. President George W. Bush and his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts in 2006.

""We agreed that contacts should be established with the opposition,"" said former Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the Afghan delegation.

""Those who are willing to take this opportunity and come forward, the door is open,"" he told a media conference.

Delegates at the meeting had formed committees that would seek contacts with all parties in the conflict then report back to another jirga in two months with their findings, Abdullah said.

Taliban spokesmen in Pakistan and Afghanistan were not immediately available for comment, but in the past have rebuffed offers of talks.

Violence in both countries has risen steadily since U.S.-led forces drove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in 2001. Many militants fled to Pakistan's border regions, where they have established bases and continue to attack U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The extremists are also blamed for a surge in suicide attacks on Western, government and military targets within Pakistan, including last month's devastating blast at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.

The Afghan government has said it is seeking talks with elements of the Taliban leadership in an effort at reconciliation and the Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan said the two sides recently had contacts in Saudi Arabia.

Pakistani officials have also said they are prepared to talk with militants who give up arms, but stressed that dialogue would not derail an ongoing offensive close to the Afghan border.

Abdullah said both countries would talk only with those militants who ""accept the constitutions of both nations,"" but did not explicitly say they must first disarm.

Pressed on whether further talks would include those who held on to their weapons, Pakistani delegate and former government minister Ghazi Gulab Jamal said, ""Dialogue means we are not fighting and when someone is not fighting, they are not holding weapons.""

Another delegate, Afghanistan's former Education Minister Faroq Wardak, said that the offer was not open to al-Qaida members blamed for much of the worst violence in both countries.

U.S Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the incoming head of U.S. Central Command Gen. David Petraeus have both endorsed efforts to reach out to members of the Taliban considered willing to seek an accommodation with the Afghan government.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said last week in Islamabad that ""there always needs to be a path for militants, you might say, to come in from the cold. And that's been true in Afghanistan. That's been true in Pakistan.""

In apparent reference to those and other comments by European officials, Pakistani delegate Owais Ghani said talks were key, ""especially when we are hearing of other countries also talking about the need for negotiations.""

Pakistan's army is involved in heavy fighting in two northwestern regions, but faces criticism because of civilian casualties and the destruction caused by airstrikes and artillery bombardments.

Last week, lawmakers in the country agreed to a resolution that called for dialogue with militants but also recognized the need for military operations.

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