Germany is helping mediate secret, direct talks between the United States and the Afghan Taliban, with meetings taking place on German soil, Spiegel magazine reported on Sunday.
Germany’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Michael Steiner is moderating the talks, the latest round of which took place on May 7 and 8 in Germany, the magazine said.
The German foreign affairs ministry would not confirm the talks were being held when asked by AFP, but said that Germany “was supporting efforts to find a political solution” in Afghanistan.
A conference on Afghanistan will be held in Bonn on December 5, the ministry said, at the request of Afghan President Hamid Karzai in November last year.
US President Barack Obama’s administration has been engaged in direct talks with senior Afghan Taliban officials responsible for leading the fight against Kabul, Spiegel said. Three direct meetings have so far taken place. The first was held in Qatar and the second at the turn of the year in Germany.
The US side is represented by State Department and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials, while the Afghan side is led by a relative of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, the magazine added.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 23rd, 2011.
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