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Western officials, the Afghan government and Taliban-linked mediators have been engaged in secret negotiations to bring elements of the group into Afghanistan's political process, Al Jazeera has learned.
The talks, which have been taking place in Dubai, London and Afghanistan since the beginning of the year, have proposed the return of Gulbaldin Hekmatyar, the former Afghan prime minister, who has been in hiding for seven years, to Afghanistan.
Hekmatyar is the leader of the Hezb-i-Islami forces, a faction of Afghanistan's Hezb-i-Islami party, and is purported to be in the northwest tribal region of Pakistan.
His forces fight alongside the Taliban and are considered a terrorist organisation by the United States forces in Afghanistan.
Asylum offer
According to information revealed to Al Jazeera, Hekmatyar would be offered asylum in Saudi Arabia, after which he would be allowed to return to Afghanistan with immunity from prosecution.
The British government is backing that element of the deal, sources told Al Jazeera.
James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul, said: "The plan is to widen these talks and to bring in elements of the Taliban."
It is not clear whether the secret negotiations were aimed at separating Hekmatyar's Taliban-linked faction from the group, or whether to encourage some elements of the Taliban to join the political process.
Michael Griffin, an Afghanistan expert, told Al Jazeera: "If Hekmatyar is in this only to trade for his own survival and immunity from prosecution and eventual retirement, that doesn't provide for his followers.
"If they are not included in the deal, they will follow the Taliban."
Patricia Degennaro, a professor at the Centre for Global Affairs at New York University, told Al Jazeera that talks were a central part of ending the conflict.
"It's long overdue that there is some kind of jirga or regional council in Afghanistan, where some of these parties who have had grievances over the years are brought together.
"They need to start talking to each other and move forward so people can start putting their arms down."
Divide and rule
Mullah Mottawakil, a former Taliban foreign minister, said the talks would fail if the plan was to split the Taliban.
"It will not benefit anyone if he [Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president] brings one part of the Taliban into the government, and leaves the other part behind. It will not finish the war."
Ghairat Baheer, one of Hektmatyar's two son-in-laws, released from the US prison at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan in May last year after six years in custody, is involved in the process, according to reports.
Baheer, an ambassador to Pakistan in the 1990s, was given a visa to travel to London by British authorities last month.
Humayun Jarir, a Kabul-based politician and son-in-law of Hekmatyar, is also said have been in involved in the talks.
Karzai has long proposed holding talks with the Taliban.
Should secret talks be taking place without his knowledge, it is likely to undermine him and further sour relations between the US and Afghanistan.
Wider talks
Al Jazeera has also learned this is not the first time in recent months that talks between the Afghan government and Taliban representatives have been attempted.
Last year, Ahmed Jan, an intermediary for the Taliban and tribal elder from Helmand province, was sent on behalf of the Taliban to Kabul for talks with the Afghan government, our correspondent said.
Jan was arrested after US officials discovered talks were to take place, and is now being held in US custody at Bagram, an Afghan political figure told Al Jazeera.
With the arrival in Kabul last month of Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan of the new administration of Barack Obama, the US president, resistance to talks with the Taliban may change.
Ahmadshah Ahmadzai, another former Afghan prime minister, said trying to bring all Afghan parties including Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader - to the negotiating table was the only option.
"If Mullah Omar agrees [to talks] and those around him do - this is the real Taliban faction - then they can bring peace."
Degennaro said: "It's really important to at least test the waters and see what's happening, and what response we're going to get, which is probably what they're doing right now."
The Afghan foreign minister is currently in Washington DC to discuss the future of the region.
Al Jazeera English - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - 'Secret' Taliban talks under way
The talks, which have been taking place in Dubai, London and Afghanistan since the beginning of the year, have proposed the return of Gulbaldin Hekmatyar, the former Afghan prime minister, who has been in hiding for seven years, to Afghanistan.
Hekmatyar is the leader of the Hezb-i-Islami forces, a faction of Afghanistan's Hezb-i-Islami party, and is purported to be in the northwest tribal region of Pakistan.
His forces fight alongside the Taliban and are considered a terrorist organisation by the United States forces in Afghanistan.
Asylum offer
According to information revealed to Al Jazeera, Hekmatyar would be offered asylum in Saudi Arabia, after which he would be allowed to return to Afghanistan with immunity from prosecution.
The British government is backing that element of the deal, sources told Al Jazeera.
James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul, said: "The plan is to widen these talks and to bring in elements of the Taliban."
It is not clear whether the secret negotiations were aimed at separating Hekmatyar's Taliban-linked faction from the group, or whether to encourage some elements of the Taliban to join the political process.
Michael Griffin, an Afghanistan expert, told Al Jazeera: "If Hekmatyar is in this only to trade for his own survival and immunity from prosecution and eventual retirement, that doesn't provide for his followers.
"If they are not included in the deal, they will follow the Taliban."
Patricia Degennaro, a professor at the Centre for Global Affairs at New York University, told Al Jazeera that talks were a central part of ending the conflict.
"It's long overdue that there is some kind of jirga or regional council in Afghanistan, where some of these parties who have had grievances over the years are brought together.
"They need to start talking to each other and move forward so people can start putting their arms down."
Divide and rule
Mullah Mottawakil, a former Taliban foreign minister, said the talks would fail if the plan was to split the Taliban.
"It will not benefit anyone if he [Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president] brings one part of the Taliban into the government, and leaves the other part behind. It will not finish the war."
Ghairat Baheer, one of Hektmatyar's two son-in-laws, released from the US prison at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan in May last year after six years in custody, is involved in the process, according to reports.
Baheer, an ambassador to Pakistan in the 1990s, was given a visa to travel to London by British authorities last month.
Humayun Jarir, a Kabul-based politician and son-in-law of Hekmatyar, is also said have been in involved in the talks.
Karzai has long proposed holding talks with the Taliban.
Should secret talks be taking place without his knowledge, it is likely to undermine him and further sour relations between the US and Afghanistan.
Wider talks
Al Jazeera has also learned this is not the first time in recent months that talks between the Afghan government and Taliban representatives have been attempted.
Last year, Ahmed Jan, an intermediary for the Taliban and tribal elder from Helmand province, was sent on behalf of the Taliban to Kabul for talks with the Afghan government, our correspondent said.
Jan was arrested after US officials discovered talks were to take place, and is now being held in US custody at Bagram, an Afghan political figure told Al Jazeera.
With the arrival in Kabul last month of Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan of the new administration of Barack Obama, the US president, resistance to talks with the Taliban may change.
Ahmadshah Ahmadzai, another former Afghan prime minister, said trying to bring all Afghan parties including Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader - to the negotiating table was the only option.
"If Mullah Omar agrees [to talks] and those around him do - this is the real Taliban faction - then they can bring peace."
Degennaro said: "It's really important to at least test the waters and see what's happening, and what response we're going to get, which is probably what they're doing right now."
The Afghan foreign minister is currently in Washington DC to discuss the future of the region.
Al Jazeera English - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - 'Secret' Taliban talks under way
