Karzai Admits Talks With Taliban

"We have had representatives from the Taliban meeting with the different bodies of the Afghan government for a long time," Reuters quoted Karzai as telling a news conference at his isolated and heavily guarded palace.

"We have a lot of other Taliban coming to talk to us. I have had some Taliban speaking to me as well," he added, without saying who he had met.

The US-backed leader said Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar is also welcome for talks to end ever-bloodier fighting five years after the Taliban's ouster.

Karzai, facing a new and serious political challenge over a rule critics and many analysts consider weak and ineffective, had previously offered talks with the Taliban.

But the United States and some of his advisers had said they were conditional.

Taliban has regrouped and emerged recently as a powerful movement that should be reckoned with.

As the harsh winter snows start to melt, Taliban fighters launched deadly attacks on NATO-led troops, mostly in the south.

But the most daring attack targeted the main US military base in the country in February during an unannounced visit by US Vice President Dick Cheney, who escaped unscathed. The attack killed 18 people, including foreign troops.

Pakistan, which is seen by the West as a major player in the fight against Taliban and Al-Qaeda, called in February for talks between the Afghani government and Taliban to stabilize the country and stem the rise in violence.

Opposition Front

Karzai, meanwhile, also rejected calls by a new opposition force that includes key members of his own government to curb his powers, accusing unnamed neighboring countries of backing the move.

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