Earlier this week the Taliban told the BBC that it would not be willing to hold talks with Nato forces over the future of Afghanistan.

The announcement came as former Foreign Secretary David Miliband wrote a letter to the new Nato commander General David Petraeus calling for the "excluded" to be included in the political process.

Speaking on the Today programme, Mr Miliband said that the pre-conditions for and endgame "are absolutely clear".

"Links with al-Qaeda have to be broken, all the tribes of Afghanistan have to be in, and the neighbours of Afghanistan have to be supportive," he explained.

Mr Miliband outlined that the process must be "Afghan-led" and that there should only be pre-conditions "for the endgame", and not "in the run-up to it".

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