Afghanistan’s Islamic Taliban Militia Hints at Talks With Opposition

Leaders of Afghanistan’s Islamic regime raised the possibility Friday of talks with the opposition.

In a radio broadcast, the ruling Taliban militia offered to begin negotiations with two of the opposition factions and allow a third faction to join in the talks if it frees its Taliban prisoners.

That faction, led by ethnic Uzbek warlord Malik Pahlawan, has refused to hand over its estimated 2,000 prisoners.

It is unlikely the other two factions would agree to talks because such a step would effectively split their alliance. But the offer could suggest a change in what has been the Taliban’s steadfast refusal to negotiate before all their prisoners are released.

The report on the Taliban’s Radio Shariat did not provide details.

The Taliban militia overran the capital, Kabul, in September and controls two-thirds of Afghanistan, where it has imposed a strict brand of Islam that bans most women from working, bars girls from schools and forces men to pray.

The radio proposal came as Taliban fighters are stuck in a battlefield stalemate with the opposition forces, led by Pahlawan, former government defense chief Ahmed Shah Masoud and Shiite Muslim leader Karim Khalili.