US in talks with Taliban: Afghan president

 The United States is holding talks with the Taliban, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said, in the first official confirmation of such contacts after nearly 10 years of war.

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Although diplomats and officials say talks are at a very early stage, Karzai's remarks highlight the increasing focus on finding a political solution in Afghanistan as foreign combat troops prepare to pull out by 2014.

"Talks with the Taliban have started... the talks are going on well," Karzai said, addressing a conference in Kabul.

"Also foreign forces, especially the United States, are carrying out the talks themselves."

But the problems surrounding any reconciliation bid were thrown into sharp focus shortly afterwards when nine people died as three Taliban attackers armed with suicide vests and machine guns stormed a Kabul police station.

A British soldier was shot dead in an insurgent attack, the defence ministry said, while France confirmed one of its troops was also fatally wounded by militant gunfire.

The militants have consistently rejected any efforts to talk peace in public statements.

"We have already said this and have repeated it many times. We have no negotiation with the United States and we deny any report as such," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP.

A US State Department spokeswoman in Washington had "no comment" on Karzai's statement.

"However, we have consistently supported an Afghan-led process of reconciliation," spokeswoman Megan Mattson told AFP.

"Currently, we have a broad range of contacts across Afghanistan and the region, and at many levels, to support that effort."

The US embassy in Kabul did not respond to a request for comment on the latest remarks from Karzai, who is known for dropping unscripted, headline-grabbing remarks into speeches.

Western officials acknowledge on condition of anonymity that attempts to set up contacts with the Taliban are at a very early stage, while efforts to open up a communication channel with Taliban leaders are still being made.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier this year called on Taliban members to split from Al-Qaeda, renounce violence and accept the constitution so they can be re-integrated into society.

Drone strikes and covert operations have weakened Afghanistan's Al-Qaeda network and could justify a White House decision to withdraw troops quicker than planned.

20 of Al-Qaeda's 30 prominent leaders in the region had been killed in the past year.

And US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on a visit to Kabul this month that there could be talks with the Taliban by the end of the year if foreign troops make sufficient gains.

A report last month in Der Spiegel magazine claimed Germany was helping to mediate secret, direct talks between the US and the Taliban on German soil while the New Yorker magazine reported in February that the US had begun direct discussions with senior Taliban figures.

Karzai's comments came the day after the United Nations Security Council agreed to split the international sanctions regime for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

The move sends "a clear message to the Taliban that there is a future for those who separate from Al-Qaeda, renounce violence and abide by the Afghan constitution," said Susan Rice, UN envoy for the United States, which led the campaign for the division.

Afghan attempts to pursue talks with the Taliban have been public for months -- Karzai last year set up a High Council for Peace to look at the issue.

But efforts to negotiate hit an embarrassing set-back when reports in November said a Pakistani shopkeeper posing as a senior Taliban leader had been brought to Kabul for talks with the president before being exposed as a fake.

US President Barack Obama is expected to announce soon how many troops from his country will pull out from July as the process of handing control from foreign to Afghan forces starts.

It is due to conclude in 2014, when all foreign forces are scheduled to leave Afghanistan.

Obama is facing mounting pressure to announce a significant drawdown after last month's killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and amid domestic economic woes and a mounting US death toll.

The Taliban's harbouring of bin Laden was the reason for the US-led invasion in 2001 following the September 11 attacks.

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Palin received death threats after 2008 nomination

Sarah Palin received death threats after she was nominated as Republican John McCain's running mate in 2008 presidential elections, according to emails released Friday, reflecting her meteoric rise.


The then Alaska governor -- and now possible White House candidate -- also emerges as hard-working and very concerned about her image from the 24,000 pages of emails released under a Freedom of Information request.


"Can you believe it?" Palin wrote in late August 2008, responding to a congratulatory message after she was announced as McCain's surprise and controversial pick as vice-presidential nominee.
"He told me yesterday -- it moved fast! Pray! I love you," she added in an email  which along with other media outlets was rifling through the mass of exchanges released by the state of Alaska.
In the weeks and months after she was catapulted onto the national political stage, she received a number of death threats, the emails reveal.


"She doesn't belong to the NRA (National Rifle Association) to support the right of each citizen to have weapons in an aim of self-defence, but just to support the right of every Southern white citizen to shoot all non-white people legally!" wrote a sender identified as Dominique Villacrouz.


"Sarah Palin MUST BE KILLED," said the many email.


In another message dated September 12, a resident in Antwerp, Belgium, also called for Palin to be shot, saying that "only on that moment justice will be accomplished,

In another message dated September 12, a resident in Antwerp, Belgium, also called for Palin to be shot, saying that "only on that moment justice will be accomplished

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Pakistan tells CIA chief no US boots on the ground

CIA Director Leon Panetta told Pakistan's army and intelligence chiefs that he was concerned about a reduction of US troops allowed in the country.

ISLAMABAD: CIA Director Leon Panetta told Pakistan’s army and intelligence chiefs that he was concerned about a reduction of US troops allowed in the country, but was bluntly told no American boots would be allowed on the ground, Pakistani military officials.
Panetta, nominated to take over as defence secretary next month, arrived in Pakistan on Friday in an unannounced visit, his first trip since a secret US raid that killed Osama bin Laden and severely damaged ties between the allies.
The army said on Thursday it had drastically cut down on the number of US troops allowed in the country and set clear limits on intelligence sharing with the United States.
“He (Panetta) expressed concerns over the reduction of trainers and operatives. We told him very clearly ‘no boots on our soil is acceptable’,” said the Pakistani military official.
Panetta held talks with army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, head of military intelligence.
The military released a statement saying: “Both sides discussed the framework for future intelligence sharing.”
A US embassy spokesman said he had no information on the talks.
“We told him that we are clear. We don’t want their people. Intelligence sharing is fine and we are ready for that,” said another military official.
Washington was angered by the fact that Bin Laden had apparently been living for years in a Pakistani town about a two-hour drive from the intelligence headquarters.
On Friday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, also a US ally, arrived in Islamabad and asked Pakistan to help end the Taliban insurgency.
Pakistan, which supported the Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until its ouster in 2001 by US-backed forces, will be crucial to any attempts to stabilize its western neighbor.
But Pakistan has often been accused of playing a “double game,” promising the United States it will go after militants, while supporting some groups such as the Haqqani network, an allegation it denies.
US commanders say the military effort in Afghanistan is being undermined partly by Pakistan-based militants.
The Haqqanis use safe havens in North Waziristan region to stage cross-border attacks against American troops in Afghanistan, and US officials have accused Pakistani intelligence of ties to the group. Pakistan denies the allegations.

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