Taliban have post-bin Laden opportunity

WASHINGTON, May 6 (UPI) -- The Taliban can play a constructive role in the Afghan political process if they embrace the sea change in the influence of al-Qaida, a U.S. official said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai last year rolled out a reintegration and reconciliation plan that called on moderate members of the Taliban to join the political process in exchange for pledges of peace.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in the wake of the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden that there was little chance the Taliban could "wait us out" in Afghanistan. "But you can make the choice to abandon al-Qaida and participate in a peaceful political process," she said.

Taliban spokesmen in Afghanistan deny they are embracing a reconciliation plan, stressing they won't talk while foreign military forces are in the country.

Mark Toner, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said options for the Taliban have changed with bin Laden out of the picture.

"There's been a turning of the page that Osama bin Laden is dead and al-Qaida is on the wane and, if the Taliban want to play a part in the political process, there is a means or a way for them to do that or there's a path for them to do that," he said.

Karzai is encouraging a review of the Taliban names on a terrorism blacklist represented by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1267. Removal, he says, will facilitate reconciliation.

Taliban leaders harbored bin Laden in Afghanistan prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.