Updated on
Summary US ambassador to Afghanistan said Taliban are considering peace talks with the Afghan government.
There are signs that the Taliban are considering peace talks with the Afghan government and contacts are taking place, the new US ambassador to Kabul said Monday.His comments came as Afghan officials said government representatives had held secret talks with a key member of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who is being held in a Pakistani jail.Baradar, whose 2010 arrest in Pakistan was blamed by Kabul for sabotaging peace initiatives, is the most important Taliban leader held in prison and was known as a trusted aide to the militants elusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.Ambassador James Cunningham, who formally took up the post Monday, did not refer directly to those talks, but told a news conference in answer to a question: There are contacts taking place, mostly at this point among Afghans -- Taliban and Afghans.There are a number of different elements at play. None of them are yet definitive, creating a concrete way forward, but we do see signs that... there is some rethinking going on among the Taliban about the future choices that they face.Cunningham attributed this to the clarity of the message the United States and the West have sent out that they will not abandon Afghanistan when NATOs 130,000 troops pull out in 2014.The strategy, which includes a partnership agreement with the Afghan government covering relations beyond 2014, and international aid pledges, has now come together (and) really does put us in a new place, he said.We have created a unique and and sustainable framework of international support for Afghanistan going forward.Cunningham said the United States had made no decision on the transfer of Taliban prisoners held at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay -- an issue which led the militants to break off tentative contact with Washington earlier this year.Pakistan, which is accused of providing safe havens for Taliban Islamists, had a role to play in the peace process, he said.We want to see Pakistan play a positive cooperative role on this across the board. Pakistan obviously has a role to play here and we are encouraging them to play that role.
