Taliban can join Afghan reconciliation, says US

MADRID - The US backs the inclusion of Taliban insurgents into an eventual Afghan reconciliation process if they agree to certain conditions, including breaking off any relations with Al Qaeda, a US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan said Monday.

Richard Holbrooke spoke to the press during a meeting of the Afghanistan and Pakistan International Support Group, which brought representatives from more than 30 countries, the UN, the European Union and NATO to Madrid.

The meeting of the informal support group, which was created in 2009, was organised by the Spanish EU presidency.

A recent Afghan peace assembly staged in Kabul urged insurgents to enter a dialogue with the government.

“Quite a few” of the rebels were expected to take up the offer, said Afghan Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal, who also attended the Madrid meeting.

The insurgents would, however, request guarantees that they would not be pursued by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, Zakhilwal said.

Holbrooke said Washington backed the inclusion of the Taliban if they respected “red lines” drawn by the US, NATO, the EU and the UN.

Any person wanting to participate in reconciliation talks needed to break off any relations with Al Qaeda, Holbrooke stressed.

Other “red lines” included accepting the Afghan constitution and a peaceful reconciliation with the Afghan government, the US representative said.

Holbrooke declined to give clues as to when the US might withdraw its approximately 100,000 troops from Afghanistan, saying they would be recalled as responsibility for security was transferred to the Afghans themselves.