Members of Afghan peace council to hold talks with Pakistan leaders

KABUL, Monday

Members of an Afghan peace council will hold talks this week with leaders in Pakistan, a crucial player in any future Afghan peace settlement, in the latest attempt to resolve the drawn-out and costly war.

A delegation led by former president Burhanuddin Rabbani would hold talks this week with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and others to discuss peace efforts in Afghanistan, said Waheed Omer, chief spokesman for President Hamid Karzai.

Pakistan, long blamed for stoking the insurgency in Afghanistan to thwart rival India, is nevertheless seen as an important ally to the United States and other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) members as they battle a worsening insurgency now in its tenth year. Acceptance has grown at home and abroad that talks may be the route to peace in Afghanistan, with US and NATO leaders also examining their long term-commitment to the war, which is at its deadliest since the Taliban were ousted in late 2001.

Omer said the delegation from Karzai’s High Peace Council wanted to seek help from Pakistan and keep its leaders abreast of developments.

"This trip is not about meeting members of the Taliban," Omer told a news conference in Kabul.

"As Pakistan has influence over the Afghan Taliban and anti-government elements who are Afghans, it can be productive in the peace process," he said. Pakistan backed the Taliban until the September11, 2001, attacks on US cities. It says it has maintained some contacts but rejects accusations it backs the insurgency.

The US has increased pressure on Pakistan to hunt down Islamist militants in a bid to turn around the war in Afghanistan, but those efforts have been complicated by a growing political crisis in Islamabad.

—Reuters