Afghan Opposition, Taliban Tell of Meetings

KABUL, Afghanistan — An opposition group says its leaders, including a former president, have been meeting with the Taliban and other anti-government groups in hopes of negotiating an end to rising violence in Afghanistan.

The contacts have taken place between leaders of the opposition National Front and "high level" militant leaders during the last few months, a party spokesman, Sayyid Agha Hussain Fazel Sancharaki, said in an interview Sunday.

He said among those at the meetings were a former president, Burhanuddin Rabbani, now a member of parliament, and Mohammad Qasim Fahim, who is President Karzai's security adviser and a powerful northern strongman.