December 28, 2007	Friday	Zilhaj 17, 1428

LONDON, Dec 27: Claims that top officials talked to the Taliban in Afghanistan threatened fresh embarrassment on Thursday for Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who had previously ruled out negotiations with the militia.

Two senior officials — the second most senior European Union official in the country and a top United Nations political adviser — have been expelled by the Afghan government amid claims they had contacts with the Taliban.

In addition, Wednesday’s Daily Telegraph newspaper said that agents from Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service MI6 repeatedly met Taliban representatives earlier this year.

Talking to the Taliban would be in contradiction to Brown’s stated policy of not talking to a militia that is currently fighting 7,000 British troops as part of an international force in Afghanistan, critics said.

“We will not enter into any negotiations with these people,” Brown told lawmakers earlier this month.

He added, though, that he supported Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s efforts at reconciliation, adding that there was a place in society for former insurgents if they were prepared to renounce violence.

The leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, David Cameron, said that the government “may want to clarify its position” after the reports.

Conservative defence spokesman Liam Fox went further, saying: “We cannot negotiate with people who are killing our troops.” But many commentators and newspapers came out in favour of engagement, highlighting that the Taliban contains extreme and moderate elements, the latter of which could be persuaded to commit to reconciliation.

The conservative Telegraph’s editorial said that 39-nation Nato-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan had reached a military stalemate and that Brown should therefore not rule out talking to the Taliban.

The editorial added that all contacts “should be closely co-ordinated with Mr Karzai’s government.” “Reconciliation may well entail talking to rebel leaders, as Mr Karzai has already realised,” it said.

“Rather than shying from that, Mr Brown should explain to the electorate why it could be part of a mix of military pressure and economic incentive in undermining the authority of such diehards as Mullah Omar.” Jason Burke, a journalist who has written a book on Al Qaeda, wrote in the left-leaning Guardian that talks between the West and the Taliban were nothing new — US government envoys met representatives as early as 1998 and third-party contacts continued in the run-up to the 2001 war, he said.

“Frankly, this is just about the only strategy left,” he wrote.

“The Taliban may be far from victory, but we are far from success.”—AFP