Taliban to hold high-level talks with Pakistani leaders
.c Kyodo News Service

ISLAMABAD, Jan. 30 (Kyodo) - A high-level delegation from Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement is due to hold talks here Monday with Pakistani leaders on political and economic issues, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported Sunday.

AIP quoted Taliban Information Minister Mullah Qudrat Ullah Jamal as saying that Afghan trade and the resumption of talks between the Taliban and Afghan opposition parties are expected to figure in talks with Pakistani government leaders.

The delegation is being led by Mullah Mohammad Rabbani, head of the Taliban cabinet, and would comprise several ministers and senior Taliban government officials.

The delegation is due to travel to Pakistan by road since U.N. sanctions have banned all flights in and out of Afghanistan.

AIP quoted Jamal as saying that the question of providing shelter to Saudi Arabian-born dissident and alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden would not come up in the talks.

The Taliban maintains that since bin Laden is not a Pakistani national, any issues involving him cannot be brought up by Pakistan in the talks.