Report: Taliban Leaders Meet Karzai to Talk Peace

Taliban leaders are leaving their safe havens in Pakistan with the assistance of NATO troops to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other government officials to discuss ending the nine-year conflict, according to a New York Times report.

The identities of the Taliban leaders are being kept secret to protect them from potential reprisals by rival groups.

The latest event follows on reports last week in which Gen. David Petraeus, the troop commander in Afghanistan, confirmed that coalition forces aided Taliban leaders to travel to Kabul for discussions. At the time a Taliban spokesman characterized the discussion as "propaganda" aimed at lowering Taliban fighters' moral.

Those denials continued in light of The Times' report.

A member of the Taliban's governing council, the Quetta Shura, told CBS News' Sami Yousafzai Wednesday that, while it was clear a number of different groups and individuals had opened a dialogue with members of the militant group, those militants involved were "unimportant" and "inactive".

"As far as I know, not one of the top 20 Taliban leaders have been to Kabul or are interested in the so-called peace talks," the Taliban figure told CBS on condition of anonymity.

"Maybe someone in his individual capacity," has traveled to Kabul, said Yousafzai's source, adding, "these kind of reports and rumors (of peace talks) have been coming in the media since 2008," with little result.

Two officials at the Presidential Palace in Kabul confirmed to CBS News that NATO forces had arranged for the transport of Taliban members to Kabul. One senior Palace staffer told Yousafzai the international military force had brought militants to the Afghan capital "once or twice" for reconciliation talks, but said he doubted any "very VIP names from the Taliban were among those transported."

Separately, another Palace official told CBS News' Fazul Rahim there had been several rounds of talks between militants and the government, but described them as "preliminary talks, not formal negotiations."

"We think the Taliban, Hezb-e-Islami and the Haqqanis are willing to talk, so we are using every means to reach out," added the source, referring to some of the larger militant groups affiliated with the Taliban. The source would not say if, in fact, any members of the Taliban's governing council had participated in the talks, but said there had "never been such direct contacts before."

"There have been several very senior Taliban leaders who have reached out to the Afghan government at the highest levels, and also in some cases have reached out to other countries involved in Afghanistan," Petraeus told reporters last Friday at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

According to the New York Times' story, Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar is not part of the new negotiations due in part to his close relationship with Pakistani security services. Some officials believe that the Taliban leadership may splinter, with some aligning with the Afghanistan government.

Last week, Gen. Petraeus characterized the Taliban-Afghan government discussions as "preliminary in nature." He said, "They certainly would not rise to the level of being called negotiations."