Kabul, Taliban hold talks in Makkah

TALIBAN leaders are holding Saudi-brokered talks with the Afghan government to end the country’s bloody conflict - and are severing their ties with Al-Qaeda, sources close to the historic discussions told CNN on Monday.

The militia, which has been intensifying its attacks on the US-led coalition that toppled it from power in 2001 for harbouring Osama bin Laden’s network, has been involved in four days of talks hosted by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, says the source.

The talks - the first of their kind aimed at resolving the lengthy conflict in Afghanistan - mark a significant move by the Saudi leadership to take a direct role in Afghanistan, hosting delegates who have until recently been their enemies.

They also mark a sidestepping of key “war on terror” ally Pakistan, frequently accused of not doing enough to tackle militants sheltering on its territory, which has previously been a conduit for talks between the Saudis and Afghanistan.

According to the source, fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar was not present, but his representatives were keen to stress the reclusive cleric is no longer allied to Al-Qaeda.

Details of the Taliban leader’s split with Al-Qaeda have never been made public before, but the new claims confirm what another source with an intimate knowledge of the militia and Mullah Omar has told CNN in the past.