U.N. Mission Head in Afghanistan Met With Taliban Envoys

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U.N. Mission Head in Afghanistan Met With Taliban Envoys - NYTimes.com

U.N. Mission Head in Afghanistan Met With Taliban Envoys

By DEXTER FILKINS
Published: January 29, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan — Members of the Taliban leadership met with a United Nations official earlier this month to discuss the possibility of entering into face-to-face peace talks with the Afghan government, American and United Nations officials said Friday.

Kai Eide, the United Nations’ special representative in Afghanistan, met with a group of Taliban leaders in the days leading to this week’s international conference in London, where President Hamid Karzai invited the Taliban to enter peace talks.

“He wanted to test for himself the mindset of some of the Taliban leaders,” said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was briefed by Mr. Eide on the talks. The discussions were confirmed by a United Nations official in Kabul.

Most of the important details of the meeting were unknown: exactly when and where the meeting took place; what, if anything, was agreed upon; and who represented the Taliban.

The talks between the Taliban and Mr. Eide came at a time of stepped-up diplomatic activity over the war in Afghanistan. Even as they pour in tens of thousands of more troops to fight in the country, American leaders have begun to search for a road that could eventually lead to a political settlement with the Taliban’s leaders.

Afghan officials and American commanders are preparing an ambitious plan to offer jobs and security to rank-and-file Taliban fighters in exchange for giving up the insurgency. Ultimately, Afghan and American leaders hope that they can peel away thousands of fighters from the Taliban ranks.

But while Mr. Eide supports that effort, he has also been advocating direct talks between Afghan and Taliban leaders. Since the American-led war began here in 2001, no formal negotiations have begun. Various attempts have been made to get such negotiations going but have always failed.

As recently as this week, the Taliban leadership council, which is believed to be based in Quetta, Pakistan, issued a statement denouncing the idea of negotiations.

Indeed, the critical issues blocking talks remain unresolved, among them the Afghan government’s demand that the Taliban sever its relationship to Al Qaeda and the Taliban’s insistence that the Americans begin to leave.

Still, Afghan leaders and American officials believe that ultimately the two sides will have to reach a political settlement for the fighting to end. In addition to Mr. Eide’s meeting, American and other officials have taken the first steps to encourage those talks to go forward.

Earlier this week, the United Nations Security Council, which includes the United States, agreed to lift sanctions on five former officials in the Taliban government. The sanctions banned the men from traveling and obliged governments to freeze their assets.

Among the five was Wakil Ahmed Mutawakil, a former foreign minister for the Taliban regime. Mr. Mutawakil now lives in Kabul, and he often acts as mediator between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

Mark Landler contributed reporting from Paris.