KABUL: The Afghan government has been in reconciliation talks for months with members of a Taliban faction closely tied to Al-Qaeda and responsible for lethal attacks on coalition forces and bombings inside the capital, Kabul, according to a member of the Afghan parliament. The parliamentarian, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said President Hamid Karzai's government had been in direct contact with Jalaluddin Haqqani, the aging leader of the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, which is also believed to have close ties to Pakistan's intelligence service. The network is being run by his son, Sirajuddin. The New York Times reported Wednesday that three members of the Taliban's leadership council, known as the Quetta Shoura, also have taken part in preliminary discussions with the Afghan government, according to an Afghan official and a former diplomat in the region. The newspaper said the White House and an Afghan who has participated in the discussions requested that the newspaper withhold the names of the three Taliban leaders plus a member of the Haqqani family who were involved in the talks - presumably to shield them from reprisal attacks. The Taliban have denied the talks. Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, a former foreign minister and confidant of Taliban leader Mullah Omar also denied that top Taliban leaders were engaged in talks. He said face-to-face talks would be too difficult right now. Karzai, meanwhile, said hopes for peace and reconciliation after almost 10 years of war had increased. But Karzai, in a long address at his presidential palace, made no direct reference to peace talks between his government and the Taliban and other insurgents. He said Afghanistan and its allies were all working towards a settlement and that he hoped significant improvements would be achieved within one or two years. “Hope for peace in Afghanistan has increased. The international community, our neighbors and all our people are endeavoring a lot towards it,” Karzai said.
