Second front for Afghan peace talks in Saudi: officials

Afghanistan and Pakistan plan to open a second front in negotiations with the Taliban in Saudi Arabia as US-brokered talks get under way in Qatar, officials said Sunday.The Taliban, ousted from power by a US-led invasion in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, announced earlier this month that they planned to set up a political office in Qatar ahead of talks with Washington.And Taliban negotiators have begun holding preliminary talks with US officials in the Gulf state on plans for negotiations aimed at ending the decade-long Afghan war, a former Taliban official said Sunday.But Afghan and Taliban officials indicated in response to a BBC report about plans for talks in Saudi Arabia that both Kabul and Islamabad -- usually at loggerheads on the issue -- were looking for their own talks with the Taliban.Asked for his response to the BBC report, Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai said: Of course we support any steps towards the Afghan peace process. He refused to comment further.But a senior Afghan government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP the BBC report was accurate, saying: We will always pursue all roads towards peace in Afghanistan, including contacts with the Taliban that are not limited to the Qatar office.A member of the Talibans leadership council, the Pakistan-based Quetta Shura, also backed the report of talks in Saudi Arabia.The idea that the Taliban should have a point of contact in Saudi is pushed by the Pakistan and Afghan governments, he said on condition of anonymity.This is because they think they have been sidelined. They want some control over peace talks.Supporting this theory, Kabul announced Sunday that Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar would visit Kabul on Wednesday, marking what Mosazai called a new phase in cooperation between the two countries.Khar would meet President Hamid Karzai to discuss the fight against terrorism and Pakistans essential support to the peace process in Afghanistan, he said.Khars visit comes after the always touchy relations between the two countries broke down following the assassination of Kabuls chief peace envoy, Burhanuddin Rabbani, in September.