Talks with Taliban being integrated into military strategy

By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

There is extreme reluctance in ISAF to spell out how troops are helping
Gen. Petraeus has said that "in certain respects, we do facilitate that"
Several top ISAF officials caution that substantive progress has not yet been made

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Even as NATO military officials try to minimize public attention on their role in assisting the Afghan government's meetings with Taliban and insurgent leaders, there are growing indications the program is now part of official NATO and U.S. policy.

There is extreme reluctance to spell out exactly how troops are helping. A top International Security Assistance Force military officer told CNN Wednesday "this issue has gotten too much over-emphasis of our role."

The goal now is to draw a picture showing an Afghan government-led peace process as the only hope for the Taliban and insurgent fighters looking for a way to escape further bloodshed at the hands of the coalition.

Gen. David Petraeus has acknowledged that U.S. and NATO troops are ensuring security for fighters and insurgent leaders who want to travel to meet with government officials.

"Indeed, in certain respects, we do facilitate that," he told a London audience last week, "given that, needless to say, it would not be the easiest of tasks for a senior Taliban commander to enter Afghanistan and make his way to Kabul if ISAF were not willing and aware of it, and therefore allows it to take place."

Inside ISAF, it is privately acknowledged by top officials that this has included "safe passage," essentially promising not to attack or bomb convoys or locations that may involve insurgents trying to contact the Karzai government.

But several top ISAF officials also caution that substantive progress has not yet been made in getting Taliban and insurgent leaders to talk to the government. As one indicator, British Maj. Gen. Phil Jones, head of the ISAF reintegration effort, told CNN that safe passage events "are fairly rare things, to be frank."

ISAF officials also indicate that they believe most of the insurgents seeking to come back into Afghan life are likely for now to be affiliated with the Quetta Shura in Pakistan, a loose organization sometimes affiliated with Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Even as the talk is about Taliban safe passage, Petraeus' military strategy includes significantly increasing ground and air attacks to pressure the Taliban into believing they have no option but to come to the negotiating table.

ISAF officials say the current rate of strikes is about four to five times what it was 18 months ago.

The top ISAF military officer said, for example, that in the south, troops have hit a number of IED factories and heavily wired compounds that have to be destroyed because no one can disarm them and people can't move through the area.

In the past 90 days, he said, troops have killed 300 senior Taliban leaders and 800 fighters, and detained 2,000.

But, like other officials, he cautioned that so far there is little real momentum in the process of trying to make peace with the Taliban.

State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley said American officials are not involved in the talks between the Afghan government and members of the Taliban leadership, but U.S. officials do have "some knowledge" of what's going on during the meetings.

Crowley said ISAF has advance knowledge of the meetings and ensures that "there is safe passage for these meetings to take place."

Crowley said the United States has assured Pakistan of its "appropriate role in resolving the situation in Afghanistan," in response to a New York Times report that Pakistan is not part of the talks.

"Pakistan does have a legitimate role to play in supporting this process," he said. "But you know, the broader process of reconciliation is an Afghan-led process. But we do see a role for Pakistan to be involved.

"Likewise, you know, the Afghan government has also made clear that solving its challenge within Afghanistan involves effective action on the Pakistan side of the border," Crowley said.

He said that although Pakistan had acknowledged Afghanistan's Taliban government in the past, "we want to see Pakistan play a constructive role in helping to shape Afghanistan's future and the relationship that Afghanistan has with other countries in the region."