Little Hope For Talks With Taliban

The Afghan government sees little hope of talks with the Taliban ahead of a major international conference in Germany next month.

Afghan National Security Adviser Dadfar Spanta said the Taliban are "absolutely not" showing any interest in negotiations leading up to the December 5 meeting in Bonn.

Speaking to the dpa news agency, Spanta said, "without the green light from the Pakistani secret services and military establishment, there will be no peace talks with the Taliban."

Spanta said talks with the rebels had not so much broken down as "never got going in the first place."

Spanta urged increased international pressure on Pakistan. He said it is an "open secret" that Pakistan was the source of much of the violence in Afghanistan.

Spanta predicted that if the situation did not change, there could be violence in the region for years to come.

compiled from agency reports