Afghans look at the wreckage of a vehicle after a roadside explosion on the outskirts of Laghman province east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 12, 2011. A provincial spokesman says a roadside bomb has killed a district chief in eastern Afghanistan and three of his bodyguards.KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan government representatives have met with a top-ranking Taliban member in his prison cell in Pakistan, an official said, suggesting a small step toward reopening stalled peace talks with the insurgent group.
The confirmation Sunday came at the end of a bloody weekend that showed how unstable the country is, though NATO is aiming to hand over security responsibility to local forces at the end of 2014 after more than a decade of warfare against insurgents.
Afghanistan’s international allies hope that bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table will ease the pressure on the Afghan government as international forces draw down.
An official with the Afghan High Peace Council, which is tasked with starting talks, said the Pakistani government allowed Afghan government envoys access to Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a top-ranking Taliban official who was captured in Pakistan in 2010.
His arrest reportedly angered Afghan President Hamid Karzai because Baradar had been in secret talks with the Afghan government.