Afghan Official Says Talks with Taliban Are Ongoing

The Afghan official in charge of reconciliation acknowledged Monday that the government had been in talks for some time with Taliban leaders to bring them into the government and end the war, dismissing the Taliban’s denials.

The official — Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, a top security adviser to President Hamid Karzai — made the statement at a news conference to discuss last week’s international Afghanistan conference in London and later elaborated on his announcement in an interview.

“There are some contacts and these contacts will continue, on the local, regional, national and broader political level, but it’s too early to speak about the outcome of these contacts,” Mr. Stanekzai said in response to a question on whether the government was in talks with Taliban leaders.

Later, in the interview, he dismissed Taliban denials of any such contacts. “They are continuing to say this, but it’s something they say in the media, but this is not a fact,” he said.

Mr. Karzai has said he would welcome talks with top Taliban figures like their leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar.

American officials, while supporting the Afghan government’s reconciliation efforts, have ruled out talking to hard-liners like Mullah Omar, whom they see as too close to Al Qaeda.

Mr. Stanekzai declined to say specifically with whom the government was negotiating. “It’s too early to say; it will ignite a lot of confusion,” he said. “We need a space for confidence building.”

The government is still working out the details of specific proposals to ensure security and jobs for Taliban members who change sides. Once those plans have been revealed, he said, “Then we can talk about this in more detail.”

In addition, Mr. Stanekzai said, many of the Taliban leaders were fearful of retaliation from other Taliban members. “We have to respect their safety as well,” he said.

At the London conference last Thursday, which brought together 50 allied and donor countries, reconciliation with and reintegration of insurgents was one of the leading topics. Mr. Karzai publicly invited the Taliban to join talks with the government, and said they would be included at a nationwide tribal assembly he has scheduled in six weeks.

Officials make a distinction between “reconciliation,” or talking to the Taliban leadership, and “reintegration,” which involves persuading lower-level followers to change sides. Both efforts, however, include providing positions and jobs to insurgents who change sides. The American military has been much more actively involved in reintegration efforts.

Last month, Kai Eide, the United Nations envoy to Afghanistan, met with a group of Taliban representatives, according to American and United Nations officials. Taliban leadership denied the reports.

“The leadership council once again emphasizes the continuation of the Islamic jihad against all invaders,” the Taliban said in a statement.

“If they deny the peace process, they are against the nation of Afghanistan,” Mr. Stanekzai said. “In Afghanistan, nobody is against the peace process. How could they stand against the peace process?”

There have been no formal peace negotiations since the war began in 2001. Publicly, the Taliban refuse to talk to the government until all foreign forces leave, while the government insists that the Taliban accept the Afghan Constitution.

At Monday’s news conference, also attended by the foreign and defense ministers as well as other officials, Mr. Stanekzai said, “We are working to find a way out of this that is not just military.”

As a part of that, he said, the government is “willing to incorporate various groups into Afghanistan’s government.” Also on Monday, Haider Reza, the director of the Mine Action Coordination Center of Afghanistan, which is financed by the United Nations, announced that the Afghan government would not be able to meet its mine-clearing goals because donor countries had not released all the money set aside for the work.

The country has received only $163 million of the $242 million pledged for the program year that begins March 21, Mr. Reza said.

Afghanistan and the international community pledged in 2006 to clear 70 percent of all mines by 2011 and 100 percent by 2013. “I can already now say Afghanistan will be forced to ask for an extension,” he said.

Mr. Reza attributed the shortfall to budgetary problems in donor countries stemming from the economic crisis. He said security problems in some parts of Afghanistan were also a problem.

In southern Afghanistan, three suicide bombers attempted to enter the Kabul Bank building in Qalat, the capital of Zabul Province, where police officers were lined up to receive their monthly pay. Police officers fired on them and two of the attackers detonated their explosives while the third escaped, according to Muhammad Jan Rasolyar, a spokesman for the provincial government.

One police officer was slightly wounded.

The international forces reported that three soldiers were killed Monday, two in southern Afghanistan during a firefight and another from a roadside bomb in western Afghanistan. The soldiers’ nationalities were not identified.

A United States soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan on Monday, according to a news release from the American-led NATO coalition. Thirty American soldiers died last month, according to the Web site of icasualties.org, an independent organization that tracks military casualties, double the 15 who died the previous January. Fifteen other allied soldiers also died last month.

Seven Taliban insurgents were reported killed in Helmand Province after a NATO airstrike on a safe house in Musa Qala District during an operation with the Afghan Army, said Gen. Sher Mohammed Zazai, the Afghan National Army commander in the neighboring province of Kandahar.