WASHINGTON, Dec 5: US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad is talking to Sunni groups in Iraq with ties to guerillas about joining the political process, national security adviser Stephen Hadley said on Sunday. Mr Hadley, in an interview with CNN television, also said previously-announced talks between Mr Khalilzad and Iranian officials would be restricted to persuading Tehran to crack down on cross-border operations by anti-US groups.

Time magazine reported on Sunday that US officials in Baghdad have stepped up their efforts to negotiate with guerillas. “We want to deal with their legitimate concerns,” Mr Khalilzad told Time. “We will intensify the engagement, interaction and discussion with them.”

Mr Hadley, asked about the remarks, said: “Let me add a little clarity to that. We have said that, obviously, we’re not going to have contact with people who have blood on their hands.

“But we have, for a long time, had contacts with a variety of Sunni groups, some of which are believed to have ties to those who are part of the — as you used the word, insurgents, what we would say is rejectionists — and some of the Saddamist elements.

“That’s gone on for a long time,” he said. “Why? Because there are a lot of Sunnis who are sitting on the fence, who have not decided whether the project for democratic Iraq is going to succeed.

“And (Khalilzad’s) effort is part of convincing Sunnis that it is going to succeed, that the Sunnis have a place in a democratic Iraq and they need to step forward now, to take that place by participating in the elections.—AFP