BBC News with Marion Marshall

The">The BBC has been told that the Afghan government plans to meet Taliban officials in Saudi Arabia in the next few weeks. If they go ahead, the talks - the first of their kind - would be a major milestone in efforts to find a negotiated solution to the Afghan conflict. There">There's been no word from the Taliban. From Kabul, Quentin Sommerville.

The

landmark

meeting between the Afghan government and the Taliban is expected to take place in the coming weeks in Saudi Arabia. American-led peace efforts will soon see the establishment of a Taliban political office in the Gulf state of Qatar. In the past, negotiators have had trouble establishing the

authenticity

of Taliban representatives. However, a delegation of senior Taliban leaders is now in Doha and have already met US officials.

The main Sunni political faction in Iraq says it's ending its boycott of parliament in a move that may help ease a month-long political crisis that many feared would spill into renewed sectarian conflict. But Iraqiya's boycott of the cabinet will remain for now. Carine Torbey reports.

The Iraqiya bloc said its decision is meant to ease tensions in the run-up to national dialogue expected early next month. Its spokeswoman said that senior politicians, including President Jalal Talabani and Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, had urged the bloc to add peace to return to parliament. The boycott was a response to the