Swiss official says visiting Taliban interested in dialogue

By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — A top Swiss diplomat who met with a delegation from Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership says the representatives expressed an interest in dialogue with the international community and realized “that they must take the first step” to unblock more aid desperately needed in the war-battered country. Raphael Naegeli, the head of Asia-Pacific affairs at Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, said he met Thursday with an 11-member Taliban delegation led by the acting health minister, Dr. Qalandar Ebad. Naegeli says the delegation made little secret of the Taliban’s hopes for more international assistance six months after their lightning-fast ouster of Afghanistan’s internationally backed government last year.