A former Afghan president, ousted from power by Taliban, was chosen on Sunday to lead a council designed to coax militants into peace talks with the Western-backed government, the presidential palace in Kabul said, dpa reported.
"The members of High Peace Council unanimously chose Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani as the chairman of the council," the palace said in a statement.
President Hamid Karzai appointed the 70-member peace council from across the political, tribal and religious spectrum of society earlier this month.
Rabbani, a Tajik Islamic cleric and the leader of a powerful mujahideen faction against the Soviet forces that invaded Afghanistan in 1980s, took power in Kabul in 1992.
During his reign the country was plunged into a bloody civil war by rival mujahideen groups that fought each other over control of power in Kabul.
Although Rabbani's government was ousted by Pashtun Taliban in 1996, he was internationally recognized as a legitimate president until late 2001 - when his fighters joined the US-led troops to topple the Taliban government.
Rabbani, who subsequently became the political leader for a coalition of parties, has said in the past that he had had contacts with Taliban leaders interested in reconciliation.
The main task for the council, which was approved by an assembly of 1,600 representatives from across Afghanistan in June, is to draw a blueprint for the country to begin peace talks with Taliban militants, who have waged an insurgency against Karzai's government and the Western forces.
Karzai has stepped up his efforts to end the war by offering olive branches to the Taliban, as the US-led war entered its 10th year this week.
The Taliban insurgency has remained unabated despite the deployment of tens of thousands of US and NATO troops this year. The new deployment has peaked the total number of foreign forces in the country at 150,000.
Taliban militants have repeatedly said that they would not come to any negotiating table with the Afghan government, unless the foreign troops leave the country first.
Karzai has also said that only those militants who are willing to accept the country's constitution and sever ties with al Qaeda network were reconcilable.
However, the US media reported this week that Taliban and other insurgents groups were holding secret talks with the government, with the backing of the US government.
The two sides were allegedly negotiating to secure positions for some of insurgents leaders in the Kabul administration, and a safe route into exile for others, according to the reports.
During Sunday's meeting of peace council members inside the fortified presidential palace, Karzai touted Rabbani as a competent person to lead the peace efforts.