Pentagon sees reconciliation with Taliban

The United States would be prepared to reconcile with the Taliban if the Afghanistan government pursued talks to end the war, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates says.

But he said Washington would not consider any negotiations with al Qaeda.

Gates said reconciliation would be the political end to the insurgency and war in Afghanistan. But he said reconciliation must be on the Afghan government's terms and the Taliban must commit to subject itself to the sovereignty of the government.

"There has to be ultimately, and I'll underscore ultimately, reconciliation as part of a political outcome to this," Gates told reporters after his first day of Nato meetings in Budapest about the Afghanistan war.

"That's ultimate the exit strategy for all of us," he said.

But Gates said reconciliation efforts could not include anyone belonging to al Qaeda, the group that has claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001, attacks and the main target of the Bush administration's counter-terrorism efforts around the world.

"We have to be sure that we're not talking about any al Qaeda," he said when listing conditions for reconciliation in Afghanistan.

Asked again if he thought talks were possible with the Taliban but not al Qaeda, Gates said, "Yeah."