MUNICH (Reuters) – Iran sees good prospects for clinching a deal with world powers on exchanging some of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) for higher-grade fuel it can use in a reactor producing medical isotopes, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Friday.

Such a deal could represent a major breakthrough in the long-running dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, but it was not clear whether Iran’s conditions would be acceptable to the United States and others.

“I personally believe we have created conducive ground for such an exchange in the not very distant future,” Mottaki told the annual Munich Security Conference.

But he said it should be up to Tehran to set the amounts to be exchanged, based on its needs.

LONDON (Reuters) – Al Qaeda and the Taliban are only allies of convenience and “do not love one another,” according to a son of Osama bin Laden, who grew up partly in a group of al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan.

The ties between the two groups are of intense interest because international forces are contemplating talks with the Afghan Taliban to forge a political settlement in Afghanistan and foment a rift between the group and al Qaeda.

Western counter-terrorism officials say they believe al Qaeda leader bin Laden and his mainly Arab senior associates are still based in the remote Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, living under the protection of Afghan Taliban leaders.

Capturing or killing bin Laden remains an important goal of Western powers and analysts say the West will seek to encourage the Taliban to view al Qaeda as a dispensable liability.

LONDON (Reuters) – Bringing the Taliban into reconciliation talks with the U.S.-backed Afghan government would strain the insurgents’ ties to al Qaeda and lift Western hopes of denying Osama bin Laden the refuge his hosts provide.

Any pressure on al Qaeda’s link to its Pashtun protectors could also spur bin Laden’s group to expand ties to militants in other Muslim nations out of self-preservation as much as ideology.

The Afghan government on Thursday invited the Taliban to a peace council, expected early this year, raising the prospect that attempts at political deal-making could eventually move to the forefront of efforts to end the war in Afghanistan.

Analysts said the Afghan Taliban headed by Mullah Omar did not have much incentive yet to join any talks following a year of territorial gains, and its link to al Qaeda remained intact.

LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Bringing the Taliban into reconciliation talks with the U.S.-backed Afghan government would strain the insurgents’ ties to al Qaeda and lift Western hopes of denying Osama bin Laden the refuge his hosts provide. Any pressure on al Qaeda’s link to its Pashtun protectors could also spur bin Laden’s group to expand ties to militants in other Muslim nations out of self-preservation as much as ideology. The Afghan government on Thursday invited the Taliban to a peace council, expected early this year, raising the prospect that attempts at political deal-making could eventually move to the forefront of efforts to end the war in Afghanistan. Analysts said the Afghan Taliban headed by Mullah Omar did not have much incentive yet to join any talks following a year of territorial gains, and its link to al Qaeda remained intact. But its more nationalist long-term goals differed from those of al Qaeda, whose militant ideology makes violent jihad an obligation for all Muslims, and an eventual rift was possible. That reality, combined with regular missile attacks by U.S. drones on its hideouts in the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, meant al Qaeda was facing multiple pressures. "Al Qaeda faces a big threat," Edwin Bakker, a senior research fellow at the Clingendael Institute in The Hague: "The Taliban is a local group able to strike local deals and that’s a worry for al Qaeda." A Western intelligence source said the prospect of such talks would put "a great deal of pressure on al Qaeda." "If the Taliban are in reconciliation contacts with the Afghan government the implications for al Qaeda are nothing but negative, because they would be losing allies and possibly territory," the source said. The Taliban have so far shown no willingness in public to enter talks, though some analysts say they realise they are no better placed than the United States and its allies to win the war by military means alone. RADICAL SPLIT UNLIKELY FOR NOW The guerrilla group said it would decide soon on the offer. In an indication of the quickening diplomatic tempo, a U.N. official said members of the Taliban’s leadership council had secretly met the United Nations representative for Afghanistan to discuss the possibility of laying down their arms. "The Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda have got pretty different agendas in the long term," said Anna Murison, Head of Global Jihad Forecasting at consultancy Exclusive Analysis. "The Taliban have got their eye on what’s going to happen when the Americans leave and are thinking about it pragmatically. … Al Qaeda is much more radical and outward-looking. Long-term their interests are going to diverge quite considerably." But a "radical split" was unlikely for now, she said. Meanwhile al Qaeda’s core leadership was focusing on building ties to highly effective militant groups in neighbouring Pakistan "and they are doing very well at that." Nigel Inkster, an expert on transnational threats at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said al Qaeda was helping such groups with technology and communications but its own operations were contained by "relentless" drone attacks. "They are also losing funding and such funding as they get is increasingly devoted to paying bribes to tribal leaders to protect figures like bin Laden," he said. Referring to a Pashtun code of honour that demands unfailing hospitality towards guests, he added: "Pashtunwali is all very well. But it does seem to require money to grease the wheels." (Editing by Charles Dick)

LONDON (Reuters) – A son of Osama bin Laden says he is working with Saudi Arabia and Iran to end his separation from a group of brothers and sisters that dates back to the chaos in Afghanistan following the al Qaeda attacks of September 11 2001.

In an interview with Reuters, Omar bin Laden said bin Laden’s children were trying to be “good citizens of the world” but suffered from the lack of a father and the stigma of being their father’s offspring. None were part of al Qaeda, he said.

“We are working with the Iranian government and with the Saudi government at the moment to have my mother’s children and grandchildren join us,” Omar bin Laden said by email.

“Many people in the world do not want to give us a chance because our father is Osama Bin Laden. This is wrong. None of us were al Qaeda. None of us were supporters of violence. If you read otherwise, then you are reading an untruth.”

LONDON (Reuters) – Al Qaeda and the Taliban are only allies of convenience and “do not love one another,” according to a son of Osama bin Laden, who grew up partly in a group of al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan.

The ties between the two groups are of intense interest because international forces are contemplating talks with the Afghan Taliban to forge a political settlement in Afghanistan and foment a rift between the group and al Qaeda.

Western counter-terrorism officials say they believe al Qaeda leader bin Laden and his mainly Arab senior associates are still based in the remote Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, living under the protection of Afghan Taliban leaders.

Capturing or killing bin Laden remains an important goal of Western powers and analysts say the West will seek to encourage the Taliban to view al Qaeda as a dispensable liability.

LONDON (Reuters) – Politicians and Western army chiefs mapped out the contours of an Afghanistan exit strategy on Monday, with three generals holding out the possibility of an eventual peace deal with the Taliban.

British army chief General Sir David Richards told Reuters negotiations with the Taliban could be considered but must be done from a position of strength. “So it’s a matter of timing, not the principle.”

He spoke ahead of a conference in London expected to agree a framework for the Afghan government to begin taking charge of security in line with a 2011 timetable set by President Barack Obama to start drawing down U.S. troops.

His comments echoed those made by senior U.S. army chiefs, including General David Petraeus, who said the fighting would get harder before the situation improved as Washington sends an extra 30,000 troops to break a stalemate in Afghanistan.

LONDON, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Politicians and Western army chiefs mapped out the contours of an Afghanistan exit strategy on Monday, with three generals holding out the possibility of an eventual peace deal with the Taliban.

British army chief General Sir David Richards told Reuters negotiations with the Taliban could be considered but must be done from a position of strength. “So it’s a matter of timing, not the principle.” [ID:nLDE60O275]

He spoke ahead of a conference in London expected to agree a framework for the Afghan government to begin taking charge of security in line with a 2011 timetable set by President Barack Obama to start drawing down U.S. troops. [ID:nSGE60N02L]

His comments echoed those made by senior U.S. army chiefs, including General David Petraeus, who said the fighting would get harder before the situation improved as Washington sends an extra 30,000 troops to break a stalemate in Afghanistan.

LONDON, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Politicians and Western army chiefs mapped out the contours of an Afghanistan exit strategy on Monday, with three generals holding out the possibility of an eventual peace deal with the Taliban. British army chief General Sir David Richards told Reuters negotiations with the Taliban could be considered but must be done from a position of strength. "So it’s a matter of timing, not the principle." [ID:nLDE60O275] He spoke ahead of a conference in London expected to agree a framework for the Afghan government to begin taking charge of security in line with a 2011 timetable set by President Barack Obama to start drawing down U.S. troops. [ID:nSGE60N02L] His comments echoed those made by senior U.S. army chiefs, including General David Petraeus, who said the fighting would get harder before the situation improved as Washington sends an extra 30,000 troops to break a stalemate in Afghanistan. But both Petraeus, the head of the U.S. Central Command, and General Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, held out the possibility of eventual talks with the Taliban leadership to end a war now into its ninth year. "The concept of reconciliation, of talks between senior Afghan officials and senior Taliban or other insurgent leaders, perhaps involving some Pakistani officials as well, is another possibility," Petraeus told The Times newspaper. McChrystal said he hoped increased troop levels would weaken the Taliban enough for its leaders to accept a peace deal. "It’s not my job to extend olive branches, but it is my job to help set conditions where people in the right positions can have options on the way forward," he told the Financial Times. "I think any Afghans can play a role if they focus on the future, and not the past," he said when asked whether he would be content to see Taliban leaders in a future Afghan government. The Taliban has been downbeat about possible peace talks. "We cannot say how soon we will achieve victory. Our mission is sacred, victory and defeat are in the hands of God," Qari Mohammad Yousuf, a Taliban spokesman, told Reuters in Kabul. "But Afghans will defeat this regime as they did that of the Russian-backed regime." "DECISIVE MOMENT" The United States and its allies are hoping the increased troop strength and a fresh commitment to Afghanistan — including funding for a formal reintegration programme for Taliban fighters — will help break the insurgency. "I think it’s clear we’re at a decisive moment in the Afghan campaign," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. "The stakes are very high indeed, not just for our service men and women, but also for stability in South Asia and the credibility of the institutions that have provided the political and security ballast for Europe over the last 50 or 60 years." Britain is hoping to use the meeting in London, to be attended by ministers from some 60 countries, to galvanise support for Afghanistan and convince regional players to co-operate in bringing stability to the country. In Istanbul, Turkey hosted a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari — the latest in a series of talks it has used to try to reduce distrust between the two neighbours. Pakistan has long played an important role in Afghan affairs, having nurtured the Afghan Taliban during the 1990s, but Kabul remains suspicious that Islamabad is pursuing its own agenda in the country to the detriment of Afghanistan. In a sign of the potential significance of the meeting, the talks were being attended by military and intelligence officials from both countries, including the head of Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. While officials refused to be drawn on details, Karzai said Afghanistan had the backing of its allies, including the United States and Europe, for renewed efforts at reconciliation. He also said Afghanistan had lobbied in the past for Taliban members to be removed from a U.N. terrorism list without success but now detected a greater willingness. "I will be making a similar statement in the London conference to the effect of removing the Taliban names from the U.N. sanctions list," he said. Attempts to win over Taliban fighters have met with only limited success in the past, and some argue that reconciliation will succeed only if the leadership is brought on board. Pakistan could be in a position to help mediate in those talks. According to Washington, Taliban leaders including Mullah Omar are based in Pakistan, though Islamabad denies this. British army chief Richards said, however, in answer to a question that the ISI should not have sole control over the process. "I think that the ISI has got to be part of the process but not left alone to get on with it. It’s a team effort in which I would very much involve or include Pakistan," he said. Early last year Obama appeared to rule out any possibility of talks with leaders of the insurgency, saying that the "uncompromising core of the Taliban" must be defeated. But Richards said the prospect of the Taliban cutting ties to al Qaeda was "one of the attractions" of any deal. With public opinion turning against the war in Afghanistan, governments are under pressure to deliver results quickly and then start bringing some of their troops home. (Additional reporting by Simon Cameron-Moore and Daren Butler in Istanbul, and Luke Baker and David Brunnstrom in Brussels and Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul; Writing by Myra MacDonald; Editing by Michael Roddy)

LONDON, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Politicians and Western army chiefs mapped out the contours of an Afghanistan exit strategy on Monday, with three generals holding out the possibility of an eventual peace deal with the Taliban. British army chief General Sir David Richards told Reuters negotiations with the Taliban could be considered but must be done from a position of strength. "So it’s a matter of timing, not the principle." [ID:nLDE60O275] He spoke ahead of a conference in London expected to agree a framework for the Afghan government to begin taking charge of security in line with a 2011 timetable set by President Barack Obama to start drawing down U.S. troops. [ID:nSGE60N02L] His comments echoed those made by senior U.S. army chiefs, including General David Petraeus, who said the fighting would get harder before the situation improved as Washington sends an extra 30,000 troops to break a stalemate in Afghanistan. But both Petraeus, the head of the U.S. Central Command, and General Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, held out the possibility of eventual talks with the Taliban leadership to end a war now into its ninth year. "The concept of reconciliation, of talks between senior Afghan officials and senior Taliban or other insurgent leaders, perhaps involving some Pakistani officials as well, is another possibility," Petraeus told The Times newspaper. McChrystal said he hoped increased troop levels would weaken the Taliban enough for its leaders to accept a peace deal. "It’s not my job to extend olive branches, but it is my job to help set conditions where people in the right positions can have options on the way forward," he told the Financial Times. "I think any Afghans can play a role if they focus on the future, and not the past," he said when asked whether he would be content to see Taliban leaders in a future Afghan government. The Taliban has been downbeat about possible peace talks. "We cannot say how soon we will achieve victory. Our mission is sacred, victory and defeat are in the hands of God," Qari Mohammad Yousuf, a Taliban spokesman, told Reuters in Kabul. "But Afghans will defeat this regime as they did that of the Russian-backed regime." "DECISIVE MOMENT" The United States and its allies are hoping the increased troop strength and a fresh commitment to Afghanistan — including funding for a formal reintegration programme for Taliban fighters — will help break the insurgency. "I think it’s clear we’re at a decisive moment in the Afghan campaign," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. "The stakes are very high indeed, not just for our service men and women, but also for stability in South Asia and the credibility of the institutions that have provided the political and security ballast for Europe over the last 50 or 60 years." Britain is hoping to use the meeting in London, to be attended by ministers from some 60 countries, to galvanise support for Afghanistan and convince regional players to co-operate in bringing stability to the country. In Istanbul, Turkey hosted a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari — the latest in a series of talks it has used to try to reduce distrust between the two neighbours. Pakistan has long played an important role in Afghan affairs, having nurtured the Afghan Taliban during the 1990s, but Kabul remains suspicious that Islamabad is pursuing its own agenda in the country to the detriment of Afghanistan. In a sign of the potential significance of the meeting, the talks were being attended by military and intelligence officials from both countries, including the head of Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. While officials refused to be drawn on details, Karzai said Afghanistan had the backing of its allies, including the United States and Europe, for renewed efforts at reconciliation. He also said Afghanistan had lobbied in the past for Taliban members to be removed from a U.N. terrorism list without success but now detected a greater willingness. "I will be making a similar statement in the London conference to the effect of removing the Taliban names from the U.N. sanctions list," he said. Attempts to win over Taliban fighters have met with only limited success in the past, and some argue that reconciliation will succeed only if the leadership is brought on board. Pakistan could be in a position to help mediate in those talks. According to Washington, Taliban leaders including Mullah Omar are based in Pakistan, though Islamabad denies this. British army chief Richards said, however, in answer to a question that the ISI should not have sole control over the process. "I think that the ISI has got to be part of the process but not left alone to get on with it. It’s a team effort in which I would very much involve or include Pakistan," he said. Early last year Obama appeared to rule out any possibility of talks with leaders of the insurgency, saying that the "uncompromising core of the Taliban" must be defeated. But Richards said the prospect of the Taliban cutting ties to al Qaeda was "one of the attractions" of any deal. With public opinion turning against the war in Afghanistan, governments are under pressure to deliver results quickly and then start bringing some of their troops home. (Additional reporting by Simon Cameron-Moore and Daren Butler in Istanbul, and Luke Baker and David Brunnstrom in Brussels and Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul; Writing by Myra MacDonald; Editing by Michael Roddy)