U.S. Defense Secretary of State Robert Gates said that his country has been conducting preliminary "outreach" talks with Taliban

Just one day after Afghan President announced that the United States was carrying out talks with Taliban, U.S. Defense Secretary of State Robert Gates said that his country has been conducting preliminary "outreach" talks with the movement.

In remarks made on CNN's “State of the Union” program broadcast on Sunday, Gates said US contacts with the Taliban were very preliminary at this point.

Gates also said making headway in the talks may be months away, adding the US would first need to determine who represents the Taliban.
"Real reconciliation talks are not likely to be able to make any substantive headway until at least this winter. I think that the Taliban have to feel themselves under military pressure, and begin to believe that they can't win before they're willing to have a serious conversation."

Hamid Karzai on Saturday announced for the first time the US was in direct talks with the Taliban.
He told a conference that the talks were going well, adding that the talks revolved around a possible settlement to the war in Afghanistan.

Karzai has recently formed a peace council to lead talks with the Taliban, naming former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani as the chairman of the council.
The newly-established peace council has been making efforts to initiate dialogue with dissident Afghans and militants who have engaged in war with the government.