Burhanuddin aides met Quetta Shura

KABUL: Former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani said that his members had held preliminary talks with the main Taliban group led by Mullah Mohammad Omar and the so-called Quetta Shura, a US newspaper reported

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is calling on the United Nations to demonstrate its support next week for regional peace talks by removing more than 20 Taliban leaders from its blacklist and creating new distinctions between the isolated Afghan leaders and al Qaeda terrorists.

With backing from the US and Britain, Afghan officials said Sunday that they are urging the UN to stop equating Taliban and al Qaeda officials as a way to send a signal to the Taliban leaders that they won't be ostracized in the future.

"That will be a test, I think, of whether we really want the peace process to succeed," said Shaida Mohammad Abdali, Mr. Karzai's deputy national security adviser, in an interview. "You clearly send a signal to the Taliban that we don't compare you to the terrorists. You are separate."

Over the weekend, former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, leader of the country's peace council, told lawmakers in Kabul that his members had held preliminary talks with the main Taliban group led by Mullah Mohammad Omar and the so-called Quetta Shura in Pakistan. "We have had multiple channels over the last few months, and it is getting momentum," said Mr. Abdali.