Pakistan, Afghan eye Taliban talks

WASHINGTON, June 19 (UPI) -- A senior U.S. official says Washington expects a major role in any future peace negotiations Afghanistan and Pakistan undertake with the Taliban.

Pakistani and Afghan officials have quietly been holding preliminary meetings this year to map out a strategy for a potential peace deal with the insurgents in the event the United States military pulls out more quickly than planned, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

An unnamed senor official in the Obama administration said that while it is understandable that Kabul and Islamabad want to have a contingency plan in place, the United States expects to be involved in the process.

""We think reconciliation has to have an Afghan face," the source told the Post, adding "we expect to be treated as full partners and not to be surprised."

The newspaper said that although no deal has been struck between the two neighbors on sitting down with the Taliban, there have been high-level discussions on the sensitive topic. Meetings have taken place over the past several weeks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the leadership of Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence services.