reported in Britain's observer newspaper yesterday (the sister paper of the leftie gruaniad)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
I recommend reading the full article, which I've quoted in part below the jump,
The Taliban have been engaged in secret talks about ending the conflict in Afghanistan in a wide-ranging 'peace process' sponsored by Saudi Arabia and supported by Britain, The Observer can reveal.
The unprecedented negotiations involve a senior former member of the hardline Islamist movement travelling between Kabul, the bases of the Taliban senior leadership in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and European capitals. Britain has provided logistic and diplomatic support for the talks - despite official statements that negotiations can be held only with Taliban who are ready to renounce, or have renounced, violence.
Sources in Afghanistan confirmed the controversial talks, though they said that in recent weeks they had 'lost momentum'. According to Afghan government officials in Kabul, the intensity of the fighting this summer has been one factor. Another is the inconsistency of the Taliban's demands.
One aim of the initiative is to drive a wedge between Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Last week the French Prime Minister, François Fillon, referred indirectly to the talks during a parliamentary debate on Afghanistan. 'We must explore ways of separating the international jihadists from those who are acting more for nationalist or tribal motives. Efforts in this direction are being led by Sunni [Muslim] countries such as Saudi Arabia,' he said.
Although there have been low-level contacts with individual Taliban commanders at district level before, the Saudi initiative is the first attempt to talk to the Taliban leadership council based in or around the south-west Pakistan city of Quetta, known as the 'Quetta Shura'.
The talks started in the summer and have been brokered by Saudi Arabia at the invitation of the Afghan government. The go-between has spent weeks ferrying lists of demands and counter-demands between the Afghan capital, Riyadh and Quetta. He has also visited London to speak to Foreign Office and MI6 personnel. A delegation from Saudi intelligence has also visited Kabul.
The Taliban are understood to have submitted a list of 11 conditions for ending hostilities, which include demands to be allowed to run key ministries and a programmed withdrawal of western troops.
In Kabul, President Hamid Karzai's national security adviser, Zalmay Rasul, has been in charge of the negotiations. It is understood that Karzai has yet to make a formal response to the demands, leading to frustration among some western officials.
I personally find it encouraging that some sort of political solution seems to be being actively sought and that a vital distinction is being made between the taliban and al-qaeda, entities which although long allied and often indistinguishable in the minds of the media and the public must be disentangled for any long term security to be achieved for Afghanistan.
The 'Anbar awakening' in Iraq was reportedly begun as a backlash against al-queada inspired violence by Sunnis who came to realise that their actions were a hindrance rather than a help for their nationalist cause-perhaps we are beginning to see stirrings of the same in Afghanistan.
These are tentative steps- and it's too early to say what progress has been made or whether anything concrete has emerged- but I think it's a good sign that progress IS possible towards a political solution.