Some see hope for peace with Taliban

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Six years after the fall of the Taliban, the fighting in Afghanistan is growing more intense -- but so is talk of peace.

President Hamid Karzai has signaled increased interest in negotiating with the Taliban, and the U.N. and NATO say a growing number of militants want out of the conflict.

With Taliban leaders demanding a pullout of foreign forces, and the U.S. rejecting all-inclusive negotiations, high-level talks to end the war remain a distant prospect. Still, there appears to be a sliver of hope for peace talks.

One analyst suggested talks with the Taliban could be a way to separate the militia from al-Qaida, like the U.S. has done in western Iraq where a new alliance with Sunni militants has splintered their relationship with al-Qaida.

"The climate for talks is more conducive than it ever has been," Daan Everts, NATO's ambassador to Afghanistan, said this week. "We're going to look into this more systematically, although of course this is essentially an intra-Afghan issue."

"In the last six months, we as the United Nations have had more contacts from the opposition than ever before. I would not say it is dramatic, but it is a trend," said Chris Alexander, the deputy head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan.

Mullah Abdul Hakim, a former Taliban commander from the southern province of Uruzgan, joined the country's reconciliation process two months ago, saying that he had been thinking "God likes peace, and from both sides, innocent people were dying."

"Now I'm working to bring more than 200 Taliban to take part in the reconciliation process," he said.