Kai Eide, the special representative for the UN secretary-general, has criticised Britain's strategy for attempting to negotiate peace in Afghanistan by restricting any talks to local commanders. He argues that any peace effort that ignores the Taleban leadersip is doomed to failure. "John Butt, the Muslim chaplain at Cambridge University, who runs radio stations in Pakistan and Afghanistan aimed at spreading a message of peace, concurred. 'It is pointless talking to anyone but Mullah Omar if you want this war to end,'"
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia invited key figures in the Afghan conflict to a reception in the Holy City of Makkah last September in an effort to initiate peace negotiations but there has been little progress since then..
