US, UK Agree on Settlement With Taliban

The US and Britain have agreed on seeking a negotiated settlement with the Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, a British diplomat says.

British High Commissioner to Islamabad Robert Edward Brinkley revealed the plan while talking to a Pakistani daily, The News at the Saudi National Day reception hosted by its Ambassador Ali Saeed Awadh Asseri Friday night.

"There were good Taliban and bad Taliban present in Afghanistan. We are prepared to talk to good Taliban, who renounce violence and lay down their arms," Brinkley said.

Brinkley was of the opinion that negotiations were ultimate solution to the ongoing war in Afghanistan. "It will be in the interest of Afghanistan and Taliban both," he added.

The diplomat noted that Britain's commander in Afghanistan Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith's views that the "war against the Taliban cannot be won" were not new. He also emphasized that the commanders belonging to other countries have also been advocating similar in their own way.

Also, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates had endorsed the recommendation by Brig. Carleton-Smith that a resolution to the conflict would require negotiations with the Taliban.

Meanwhile, British envoy to Kabul Sherard Cowper-Coles earlier suggested that the best solution for Afghanistan would be to install an "acceptable dictator" in the country, France's weekly, Le Canard quoted him as saying.

The top British diplomats' comments follow the media reports that the US-led coalition forces began secret talks with the Taliban after the allies in the so-called war on terror came to an impasse in their efforts to tackle the insurgency in the violence-wracked Central Asian country.

The recent developments come after the US-led coalition forces have experienced some of the most violent attacks since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, with more foreign troops now being killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq.

As casualties mount, so have Western calls for negotiations with the militants to bring an end to the conflict. But the Taliban have repeatedly rejected the of talks unless all 70,000 foreign troops leave the country.

The number of deaths in the war-torn country has skyrocketed. The victims include members of the US-led international forces and the Afghan military and increasingly, civilians.