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Official: NATO Helping Taliban Contact Afghan Govt

14 October 2010 03:40 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. A senior NATO official says the coalition in Afghanistan is facilitating contacts between senior Taliban leaders and top Afghan government officials, APA reports quoting â€œThe Voice of Americaâ€.
The official says the contacts mark a first step toward reconciliation between the government and Taliban insurgents.
The NATO official spoke in Brussels Wednesday on the condition of anonymity.
Earlier this week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai confirmed that his government has been holding unofficial talks with the Taliban.
U.S. special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said the United States is not involved in the talks, but supports reconciliation efforts on the condition that insurgents respect the constitution, renounce al-Qaida and lay down their weapons.
In other developments, six NATO service members were killed in Afghanistan Wednesday, in what already has been the deadliest year for coalition forces since the war began nine years ago.
The alliance says five of its service members were killed in two separate roadside bombings in the south. In eastern Afghanistan, NATO says another service member was killed by insurgents Wednesday.
NATO commanders have warned of an increase in violence as Afghan as coalition forces clear the region of insurgents. More than 30 NATO service members have been killed so far this month.
In Brussels Wednesday, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, spoke with NATO ministers about a plan to transfer security responsibilities to Afghan forces starting next year.
After the briefing, NATOâ€™s civilian representative in Afghanistan, Mark Sedwill, told reporters that while the plan calls for completing the transition by 2014, it ultimately will depend on conditions on the ground. Sedwill added that some allied troops likely will still remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014.
Separately, the U.N. Security Council renewed the mandate for NATO forces in Afghanistan for one more year, until October 13, 2011.
The council also expressed concern about Taliban and al-Qaida violence and the increased number of civilian casualties.
In other violence Wednesday, Afghan and coalition forces killed a Haqqani network leader, Ansari Khan, in Khost province.