Karzai offers Taliban a role in government..

Common sense begins to prevail finally ???????????

President Hamid Karzai has offered Taliban leaders the possibility of positions in his government if they agree to a peace deal which could bring fighting to an end.

The offer was made through his brother Qayoun at a secret meeting in Saudi Arabia of which Britain was aware.

Britain has been encouraging the Kabul government to talk to its Taliban enemies for more than two years and the Americans are thought to be coming round to the idea of a deal which would end the costly war in Afghanistan.

But The Sunday Telegraph has learned that the allies would insist that the Taliban would have to split with al-Qaeda and provide information on international terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan as the price of a deal.

Under the Saudi Arabian initiative more than a dozen former senior Taliban figures travelled to the kingdom with the approval of President Hamid Karzai's government.

The British Government has said little about the initiative in public but British military commanders and diplomats are known to favour talking to the Taliban as a way of ending the war.

In the last year the insurgency has worsened considerably, with UN figures showing a 40 per cent rise in civilian casualties and a 40 per cent increase in insurgent attacks in the past 12 months.

There are growing fears that the weak Kabul government is not able to hold back the Taliban, which has been able to overrun a series of formerly peaceful provinces around Kabul - despite suffering grievous losses at the hands of special forces teams which are hunting down guerrilla commanders.

British intelligence sources now believe the Taliban's own ranks may be ready for a grand deal in which Taliban leaders will be allowed to return to their homes and even take positions of power and be granted immunity from prosecution.

They could even run in next September's presidential election, although granting them positions of local power in areas which they effectively control is more likely. Senior Taliban figures could enter the government as ministers.

The Americans have made it clear that while they may tolerate talks with the Taliban, no negotiation with al-Qaeda or figures linked to al-Qaeda is possible. The British are more enthusiastic about talks, raising the possibility of friction between the two allies during what promises to be a difficult process over the next few months.