Taliban in high-level talks with Hamid Karzai government

Secret high-level talks have commenced between the representatives of the Taliban and the Afghan Government to negotiate an end to war.

The talks being held at an undisclosed location, involve high-level representatives of the Taliban authorised by the dominant Quetta Shura led by the groups elusive leader Mullah Omar, Washington Post reported quoting Afghan and Arab sources.

Omar's group had shunned negotiations in the past insisting that the Taliban would settle for nothing less than total withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.

The Post quoting sources said that Quetta Shura was giving up its rigid stand and has begun talk about a comprehensive agreement that would include participation of some Taliban's figures in the government and the withdrawal of US and NATO troops on an agreed timeline.

"They are very, very serious about finding a way out," a source close to the talks was quoted as saying by the paper.

The Paper said discussions with the Quetta Shura do not include a representatives of the Haqqani network, a separately led Taliban faction that US military an intelligence consider particularly brutal and which has been targeted recently by escalated US drone attacks in North Western Pakistan.

Washington Post said the Haqqani group is seen more closely tied to the Pakistani intelligence service than the Quetta Shura, which is based in South Western Pakistani province of Baluchistan.

The Paper quoting Afghan sources said the talks had triggered tensions in between Kabul and Islamabad as Pakistan was insisting on a central role in any negotiation.

It said Islamabad was queering the pitch by making it difficult for Quetta Shura. "They (Pakistanis) try to keep very tight control," a Pakistani source said.

The talks come amid what Arab and European sources said they see a distinct change of heart on the part of the Obama administration towards negotiations.