Afghan govt leaked info on US,Taliban secret talks

A senior US official acknowledged that the talks imploded because of the leak and that Aga,while alive,had disappeared. Current and former US officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

Infuriated that Washington met secretly at least three times with a personal emissary of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar,the Afghan government intentionally leaked details of the clandestine meetings,scuttling the talks and sending the Taliban intermediary into hiding,The Associated Press has found.

In a series of interviews with diplomats,current and former Taliban,Afghan government officials and a close childhood friend of the intermediary,Tayyab Aga,the AP learned Aga is hiding in Europe,and is afraid to return to Pakistan because of fears of reprisals. The US has had no direct contact with him for months.

A senior US official acknowledged that the talks imploded because of the leak and that Aga,while alive,had disappeared. Current and former US officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

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The US acknowledged the talks after Afghan President Hamid Karzai,who apparently fears being sidelined by US-Taliban talks,confirmed published accounts about them in June. The first was held in late 2010 followed by at least two other meetings this year,the former US official said. The sessions were held in Germany and Qatar,he said.

A childhood friend of Agas who spoke on condition of anonymity,said Aga was in Germany. A diplomat in the region said Aga fled to Europe after his contacts with US were revealed.

The talks were deliberately revealed by someone within the presidential palace,where Karzais office is located,said a Western and an Afghan official.

Pakistan had also been kept in the dark about the talks,people knowledgeable about them said. An Afghan official with contacts with the Taliban said the insurgents decided not to tell Pakistan about the meetings with the US.

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At the time of the leak,Washington had already offered small concessions that the US intended as confidence-building measures, a former senior US official said. The concessions included treating the Taliban and al-Qaeda differently under international sanctions. The US also offered assurances that it would not block the Taliban from opening an office in a third country,the official said.