Ex-Afghan president heads peace council

KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Opposition leader and former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani will head a high council for peace, the Afghan president announced.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai appointed the former president to lead a 70-member council tasked with reconciling with certain members of the Taliban.

Rabbani, a former mujahedin leader who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan, served as the president of Afghanistan from 1992-96 when he was forced to flee Kabul amid a Taliban takeover of the government.

Rabbani during his acceptance of the appointment said reconciliation wasn't a duty for the peace council "but of the Afghan nation and of all those patriot Afghans who want to see an end to the current turmoil," Karzai's office said in a statement.

Rabbani leads the Afghanistan National Front opposition group.

Karzai outlined a peace and reconciliation plan during a May visit to Washington that invited moderate members of the Taliban to the political process in exchange for pledges of peace.

Rabbani, Karzai's office said, noted that "firm determination and hard work can make it possible to seek a lasting peace for the suffering Afghan nation."

Taliban leaders have officially balked on the idea of negotiating with the government in Kabul.