A UN official says the UN representative in Afghanistan and members of a Taliban's leadership council have secretly met as the West has been trying to bring the militant group into Afghan government.

The unnamed UN official said that UN Special Representative Kai Eide had met with senior commanders of the Taliban in Dubai on January 8th, Reuters reported.

The senior Afghan Taliban commanders who took part in the reported meeting are based in the southern Pakistani city of Quetta.

The official says the high-level talks took place upon Taliban request.

"They requested a meeting to talk about talks. They want protection, to be able to come out in public," the official said.

Reconciliatory talks with the militant group revived since exploratory contacts between emissaries of the Afghan government and the Taliban were made in Saudi Arabia last year.

The United Nations has removed several former Taliban officials from its blacklist in Afghanistan on Tuesday.

President Hamid Karzai on Thursday at the London summit raised his government's plan to re-integrate into the Afghan society those Taliban militants who he said have cut ties with al-Qaeda.

Senior US officials have announced that the US supports efforts to engage in a dialogue with the militants.

The US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, told reporters on the sidelines of the London Summit that more than two-thirds of the Taliban are not “extremists.”

The US has reportedly gone so far as to sanction a political party for the Taliban.

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has recognized that the Taliban are a part of Afghanistan's political force.
"The Taliban...are part of the political fabric of Afghanistan at this point," the Wall Street Journal quoted him as saying on last Friday. He made the remarks during his two-day visit to Pakistan.

This comes as Washington and its allies have time and again accused the group of spreading terrorism and extremism in the region.

The US invaded Afghanistan following September 11, 2001 attacks to allegedly destroy the militancy in the country.

Many Afghan civilians have been killed both by violent militant acts, including bombings and daily fighting, as well as by US military operations in the country.

The developments show US President Barack Obama's administration might be willing to accept the militants as playing a potentially central role in Afghanistan's future.

Source: Press TV, Jan 29 2010