Kabul searching for Taliban caretaker

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai heads to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday as Kabul scrambles to find leadership for its Taliban reconciliation effort.

Karzai during a one-day conference on Afghanistan in London last week said he would call for a tribal council, or loya jirga, to examine ways to bring moderate insurgent elements into the political fray.

The effort is modeled in part on a similar program in Iraq that saw U.S. military officials put insurgents on its payroll to fight al-Qaida.

Riyadh in 2008 mediated talks between the Karzai government and members of the Taliban, though it appears the Saudis are balking on taking a stronger role.

Islamabad in the aftermath of the London conference welcomed the reconciliation effort. The Pakistani government said it wants to incorporate all Taliban into the Afghan effort, though Washington is limiting its integration candidates.

Islamabad said it has the expertise needed to deal with the Taliban because of its regional reputation earned from staying out of Afghan politics. Officials in the Pakistani Foreign Ministry told Pakistan's Dawn newspaper that it was time to sit down with both sides to find the best way forward.

Jim Jones, the U.S. national security adviser, and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, are expected in Islamabad in the coming weeks to discuss Islamabad's role in the Afghan mission.