New Delhi: British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), MI6, has been quietly holding talks with the Taliban, the Daily Telegraph.
The report claimed that meetings were held at least six times in the recent past, most of them outside a place called Lashkar Gah in Helmand province, where British troops are in charge of internal security. The meetings involved not only serving local Taliban commanders but also those who had given up their arms.
The report contradicted British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's recent statement to Parliament that his government would not hold any talks with the Taliban. Brown has, however, backed Afghan President Hamid Karzai's reconcilation efforts, saying that former insurgents who renounced violence had a place in society.
The Opposition has now demanded an explanation from Brown.
According to the report, officers from MI6 engaged in the talks with some senior Taliban men on several occasions. "The SIS officers were understood to have sought peace directly with the Taliban with them coming across as some sort of armed militia. The British would also provide 'mentoring' for the Taliban," the newspaper quoted its source as saying.
According to the report, MI6's meetings with the Taliban took place up to half a dozen times at houses on the outskirts of Lashkah Gah and in villages in the Upper Gereshk valley, to the north-east of Helmand's main town.
The compounds were surrounded by a force of British Infantry providing a security cordon. "These meetings were with up to a dozen Taliban or with Taliban who had only recently laid down their arms," the report quoted an intelligence source as saying.
Britain has said it would support efforts by the Afghan government to negotiate with tribal fighters now supporting the Taliban — but only if they embraced democracy.
(With agency inputs)
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