The administration of Mr Karzai seems to be sending mixed messages about how seriously it wants to negotiate with the Taliban. A flurry of media reports in October 2010 suggested that the Taliban were ready for talks with the government, and that ongoing contact between the two sides was progressing. By the end of October, however, it seemed that the process-or perhaps more accurately, the preliminary process-had stalled because of an unwillingness on the part of the US and Afghan governments to engage seriously in talks; minimum guarantees for negotiations that were demanded by the Taliban were not met. The government of Saudi Arabia, which has often acted as a neutral mediator, also backed away from the talks, saying that the Taliban must distance itself further from al-Qaida.

Aside from international efforts to broker some form of a peace settlement, the Afghan government has established the High Peace Council as part of the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Programme (APRP). The composition of this 70-member body has been highly criticised for not having any significant Taliban representation, and for being yet another warlord-run council led by former mujahideen leaders such as Ustad Rabbani and Sibghatullah Mojaddedi. Therefore, there are few hopes that the new body will act as a faithful agent in a peace process.

However, the inauguration of the High Peace Council has led to increased efforts to reintegrate insurgent fighters with the national security forces. Small groups of insurgent fighters from a range of backgrounds and affiliations, including from the Taliban, Hezb-i-Islami and other non-affiliated armed groups, have registered for the APRP. In particular, over 100 men laid down their weapons in the northern provinces of Kunduz, Takhar and Baghlan, as did hundreds of insurgents in Badghis and Heart provinces. Nonetheless, the Taliban have also been active in countering the reintegration programme. Along with threatening participants, they have encouraged entire Afghan National Police units to defect.