'Secret' negotiations with the Taliban: the help of the Saudi Arabian and British intelligence services ... towards a "deal"

In the Observer, here, via WarinContext.

"....His mission: to talk to the Taliban leadership about a possible peace deal.......The backing given by the West to these talks is a measure of how badly things have gone wrong in Afghanistan, and how far Western governments are prepared to go to stabilise a deteriorating situation which is costing more in men, money and political capital than they ever imagined. The equally worrying situation in Pakistan, where the Taliban are largely based and where a separate but related insurgency has broken out, has given the initiative a new urgency...."