UNITED NATIONS The UN Security Council urged Afghanistan's Taleban to restart talks with the armed opposition, the council president said. Kenyan Ambassador Njuguma Moses Mahugu, this month's council president, said the council called on both sides to return to the negotiating The United Nations announced Tuesday that the Taleban had decided to abandon peace talks and blamed the opposition Northern Alliance for refusing to cooperate.

As part of the talks, the two sides agreed to set up a steering committee for a 40-member commission of Ulema or Islamic scholars to discuss ending the 18-year civil war which has killed tens of thousands of people. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, secured direct negotiations between the warring factions during a visit to Afghanistan in April. The council expressed its concern that the Taleban have decided to discontinue their participation in the Ulema process, said Mahugu after a closed-door meeting.

The 15-member panel also condemned the intensification of hostilities and called on the parties to lift all the restrictions that have been placed on the delivery of humanitarian assistance to allow its resumption. The Taleban control about two-thirds of Afghanistan. They took Kabul in September 1996. (AFP)