14 killed in fierce Afghan battles

US Marines tracked down a band of insurgents in eastern Afghanistan and sparked a battle that left about 12 rebels and two American troops dead, the US military said today.

The battle was the latest sign of a revived Taliban-led insurgency.

The military said warplanes from the US-led coalition also joined the clash with about 25 insurgents yesterday evening in Laghman, a province of an eastern opium-producing region where US forces have regularly fought with militants.

Meanwhile, an Afghan official assigned to reconcile long-warring factions said today that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and renegade former premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar were welcome to take part in the reconciliation process.

Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, head of a commission set up this year to manage the talks, said the process was open to all Afghans who recognise President Hamid Karzai and the country’s new democratic constitution.

Karzai has suggested that Omar and Hekmatyar, both sought by US troops in Afghanistan, would be excluded from the process – but Mujaddedi said the restriction no longer applied.

“Sometimes policies toward some people change, and this was the old policy toward Mullah Omar and Hekmatyar,” Mujaddedi said at a news conference. “Our commission is independent and we want to deal with all individuals.”

Mujaddedi wouldn’t say whether he had consulted the government or the US military leaders on opening channels to militant leaders, but said Karzai had pledged to support the commission’s work.