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The government of Afghanistan is close to beginning direct peace talks with Taliban insurgents for the first time, according to senior Afghan officials.

Abdullah Abdullah, chief executive in Afghanistans unity government, said at a Cabinet meeting Monday that Taliban leaders were willing to negotiate directly with Kabul, raising hope for a settlement to hostilities that began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Abdullah said he had received assurances from Pakistan, where senior Taliban leaders are based, that the insurgent group was ready to hold face-to-face talks for the first time since a multinational diplomatic effort to engage the Taliban collapsed in 2013. The difference this time, officials say, is the peace process would be directed completely by Afghans.

Pakistan has told those people that are involved in the war that they do not have any other option than negotiating with Afghanistans government, Abdullah said.

With the U.S.-led NATO coalition having declared its combat mission over - although about 10,000 American troops remain in Afghanistan -- new Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has sought to take ownership of the talks. Ghani has urged Pakistan in a series of meetings to put pressure on the Taliban and enlisted the support of China, a key ally of Islamabad.

One Afghan official with knowledge of the negotiations described the involvement of China as a big, important new development.

Ghani, who enjoys a less adversarial relationship with the Taliban than his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, is said to be willing to allow certain vetted Taliban representatives to participate in amending the constitution and even taking up positions in the unity government.

A spokesman for Ghani, Ajmal Obaid Abidy, declined to confirm details of the nascent peace process, but said it will be transparent and according to the will of the people.

In 2013, the Taliban briefly opened a diplomatic office in the Persian Gulf sheikdom of Qatar after clandestine talks involving the United States and the European Union. Angry that Afghans had been excluded, Karzai refused to participate and roundly criticized the effort, which quickly fell apart.

Afghan and international officials say Ghanis approach is bearing fruit.

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Afghanistan reported close to direct peace talks with Taliban

KABUL, Afghanistan The United States is considering slowing its military exit from Afghanistan by keeping a larger-than-planned troop presence this year and next because the new Afghan government is proving to be a more reliable partner, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Saturday.

Carter, on his first overseas trip since starting the Pentagon job Tuesday, also said the Obama administration is "rethinking" the counterterrorism mission in Afghanistan, although he did not elaborate.

No decisions have been made, but President Barack Obama will discuss a range of options for slowing the U.S. military withdrawal when Afghan president Ashraf Ghani visits the White House next month, Carter said at a news conference with Ghani. The presidents also plan to talk about the future of the counterterrorism fight in Afghanistan, he said.

Carter did not say Obama was considering keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan beyond 2016, only that the president was rethinking the pace of troop withdrawals for 2015 and 2016.

There are about 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, down from a peak of 100,000 as recently as 2010-11.

While the White House recently acknowledged it was reconsidering the exit plan, Carter's remarks were the most direct explanation by a Pentagon official amid criticism from opposition Republicans that the Democratic commander in chief is beating a hasty and risky retreat.

On Feb. 11, the White House said Ghani had requested "some flexibility in the troop drawdown timeline" and that the administration was "actively considering" that. A day later, Gen. John Campbell, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee that he had presented U.S. leaders with several options that would allow him to better continue training and advising Afghan forces, particularly through this summer's peak fighting season.

The "common denominator" in the new thinking about the U.S. military mission is a belief in Washington that the formation of a unity government in Kabul last year has opened new possibilities for progress on both the political and security fronts, Carter said.

The unity government of Ashraf and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah offers new promise for a more effective partnership in stabilizing the country, Carter said.

U.S. officials had grown grew impatient with former President Hamid Karzai, who sometimes publicly criticized the U.S. military and took a dimmer view of partnering with the Americans.

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US considering slowing down troop withdrawal from Afghanistan

Published February 21, 2015

KABUL, Afghanistan U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter made his international debut Saturday with a visit to Afghanistan to see American troops and commanders, meet with Afghan leaders and assess whether U.S. withdrawal plans are too risky to Afghan security.

"We're looking for success in Afghanistan that is lasting," Carter told reporters traveling with him on his first trip since being sworn in as Pentagon chief on Tuesday.

Carter, an experienced defense strategist, revealed little about his thinking on current trends and future prospects for Afghanistan, saying he was using his trip to gather information that will enable him to formulate advice for President Barack Obama. Consulting is his way of "getting my own thinking together," he said.

Carter is Obama's fourth Pentagon chief. He served as the Pentagon's No. 2 official earlier in Obama's tenure and is seen as a technocrat largely untested on the international stage.

Afghanistan's security forces have improved greatly, but the country is still struggling with a resilient insurgency 13 years after U.S. troops invaded and toppled the Taliban regime. Many Afghans worry that Obama is risking an Iraq-like relapse in security by cutting American troop totals in half this year, from the current 10,000, and ending the military mission entirely at the end of 2016.

In an in-flight interview, Carter said he expects to discuss the troop withdrawal plan with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and get his assessment of how the U.S. military can best support the continued development of Afghan forces.

"That's what I'm here to find out," he said. "How do things stand now, and what's the best path forward."

U.S. forces ended their main combat mission in December 2014 but have remained in smaller numbers to continue training and advising the Afghans and to conduct counterterrorism strikes against extremist groups.

Carter said he also expects to hear Ghani's views on prospects for peace talks with the Taliban.

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New Defense Secretary Ashton Carter makes first Afghanistan visit

PANJSHIR VALLEY, Afghanistan (AP) Avalanches caused by a heavy winter snow killed at least 124 people in northeastern Afghanistan, an emergency official said Wednesday, as rescuers clawed through debris with their hands to save those buried beneath.

The avalanches buried homes across four northeast provinces, killing those beneath, said Mohammad Aslam Syas, the deputy director of the Afghanistan Natural Disaster Management Authority. The province worst hit appeared to be Panjshir province, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of the capital, Kabul, where the avalanches destroyed or damaged around 100 homes, Syas said.

An avalanche survivor man lies on a bed at Emergency Hospital in Panjshir province north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015. Avalanches caused by a heavy winter snow killed at least 124 people in northeastern Afghanistan, an emergency official said Wednesday, as rescuers clawed through debris with their hands to save those buried beneath. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini) (Massoud Hossaini/AP)

The acting governor of Panjshir, Abdul Rahman Kabiri, said rescuers used their bare hands and shovels in an effort to reach survivors. Rescue teams had been dispatched to the affected areas and casualties were expected to rise, Syas said.

The heavy snowstorms, which began early Tuesday, hampered rescue efforts. Snow fall from the storm was nearly 1-meter (3-feet) deep in places and fallen trees blocked roads in the Panjshir Valley.

Gen. Abdul Aziz Ghirat, the provincial police chief of Panjshir, said the death toll from the avalanches was expected to rise when rescue attempts resumed at sunrise Thursday.

Avalanches in the valley's Dara district affected up to 600 families, according to people trying to reach the area to assist in rescue efforts.

"People there have told me that two of my relatives have been killed and eight others are still under the snow," said an Afghan who goes by the single name Sharafudin. "My son and I are trying to get through to see if we can help find their bodies. But it will take us at least three or four hours to get there because of the snow and the road is very narrow, so we have to walk, the car can't get through."

He spoke at the mouth of the valley, where traffic moved at a crawl.

"We've had no help yet from the authorities, no medicines, no machinery to open the roads so we can get to the buried houses," Sharafudin said.

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Dozens feared dead in Afghanistan avalanche

March 18, 2013: File photo, Gen. John Campbell speaks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.(AP Photo/John Milburn, File)

WASHINGTON The top U.S. military commander for Afghanistan told senators Thursday that he has asked for greater flexibility in how quickly he pulls troops out of Afghanistan and where he can position them around the country in the coming months.

Army Gen. John Campbell provided few details during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said, however, that he has presented military leaders with several options that would allow him to better continue training and assisting Afghan forces, particularly through this summer's peak fighting season.

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has pushed for a slower withdrawal of troops from his country, giving them more time to work with Afghan forces who will be fighting largely on their own this summer for the first time.

Current plans call for the U.S. to go from about 10,800 troops there now to 5,500 by year's end. A number of senators have made it clear they disagree with that plan, and they repeated their sharp opposition Thursday, saying the current drawdown plan is too fast and too steep.

"You've got to speak truth to power," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told Campbell. "A lack of presence creates a vacuum, and we've seen what fills that vacuum in Syria and Iraq. The ungoverned spaces will allow terrorists to foment the same disaster in Afghanistan as we have seen in Iraq growing instability, terrorist safe havens and direct threats to the United States."

By keeping more than 5,500 troops through the end of the year, Campbell would be able to maintain forces in other locations around the country, both training the Afghan forces and providing support for more counterterrorism missions.

Throughout the Iraq and Afghan wars, commanders have routinely come to Washington with requests for greater latitude in troop withdrawals, usually laying out two or three options and describing the additional security and tasks they could accomplish with each troop level.

So far, President Barack Obama has not publicly endorsed a change in the drawdown plan, but he is expected to meet with Ghani in Washington in the coming weeks.

In response to questions from Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., Campbell acknowledged that in order to get down to 5,500 U.S. troops by the end of the year, he would probably need to begin closing facilities and moving equipment and troops during the fighting season. He said he would try to mitigate any risks and not affect the fight.

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US commander wants greater flexibility in Afghanistan troop drawdown