Taliban may give up al Qaeda, ex-minister says

By Sean Maguire

KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban could cut its ties with the militant al Qaeda group it once harboured as part of a peace agreement in Afghanistan, a former foreign minister for the austere Islamist movement said on Wednesday.

But severing links with the radical Islamists behind the Sept 11, 2001, suicide attacks on the United States should not be a pre-condition for talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government, Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil said.

"Al Qaeda were in Afghanistan before as guests of the Taliban. Now they are allies in the fight," Muttawakil told Reuters. "Al Qaeda will not be allowed to create an obstacle ... it is the right of Afghans to negotiate for peace."

Muttawakil was part of a group of Afghans that met in Saudi Arabia last month for discussions on how to end the worsening conflict between the Taliban and the Western-backed Afghan government, now in its eighth year.

All sides agree there were no direct Taliban representatives present or that real peace talks took place in Mecca. But the start of efforts to find a negotiated solution has been seized on as a glimmer of hope amid the rising death toll in Afghanistan.

Muttawakil does not speak directly for the Taliban but is known to retain ties to the movement that ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. It was toppled by U.S.-led and Afghan forces for refusing to hand over al Qaeda leaders.

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