A spokesman for Pakistan's foreign ministry said the decision was made during a visit to the capital by two dozen members of Kabul's High Committee for Peace, led by its chairman, former Afghan premier Burhanuddin Rabbani.

"Both parties agreed to convene a peace jirga with representatives of both countries in the coming months," spokesman Abdul Basit said, without elaborating on the location and date.

Basit said both sides discussed the opening of an Afghan Taliban representative office in Turkey, an idea recently floated by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to kick-start stalled negotiations with the rebels.

"We have no problem with that if Afghanistan and Turkey agree. We agree with any effort made by the Afghan government to bring peace," said Basit.

"The two countries are looking forward to closer cooperation that can favour peace and stability in the region," he added.

Since arriving in Islamabad on Tuesday, Rabbani has held talks with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and the governor of Pakistan's northwest border province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Owais Ahmed Ghani.

He is expected to meet with President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday before returning to Kabul, said Basit.

The visit marks the beginning of a new phase in Kabul's attempts to woo Taliban rebels to negotiate peace after nine years of war in Afghanistan and as US and NATO-led coalition forces plan to send some troops home this year.

The HCP was set up last summer by Afghan President Hamid Karzai who appears more willing to include Pakistan in talks, after years of accusing its neighbour of sponsoring the insurgency to defend strategic interests in the region.

The Taliban and other militant groups including Hezb-i-Islami, which is led by former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, vowed Thursday to keep fighting until foreign forces have left the country.

"The peace commission's all efforts, from the begining up to now and itself, is not acceptable for us," Ysouf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman told an AFP reporter in southern Afghanistan by phone. He would not disclose his location.

Ahmadi also denounced the HCP as "an American" programme.

Haroon Zarghoon, a spokesman for the Hezb-i-Islami which is waging a separate insurgency against Karzai's administration also dismissed the peace body as powerless.

Before holding peace talks "we want the foreign forces to start withdrawing Afghanistan from this July and complete the withdrawal in six months," Zarghoon told AFP by phone, adding the HCP has "no authority to make big decisions."

The Taliban and Al Qaeda's headquarters are believed to lie in Pakistan's remote tribal regions on the mountainous border with Afghanistan.

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