Opening a two-day conference discussing efforts to broker peace, Afghan Vice President Mohammad Karim Khalili said the talks were an opportunity for the Taleban to embrace peace.
"The peace and reconciliation program initiated by the Afghan government is a good opportunity for the Afghan armed opposition, specially their commanders, to stop the destruction (of Afghanistan)," said Khalili.
"Otherwise eventually they will face the same fate as Osama Bin Laden," he added.
Khalili reiterated that Bin Laden's killing in Pakistan showed that Afghan claims were correct that Al-Qaeda and Taleban leaders enjoyed support from elements in Pakistan. "The killing of Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, gives us hope that the voice of the people of Afghanistan is now being heard," he said.
President Hamid Karzai inaugurated a High Peace Council charged with negotiating with the Taleban last year but the process has so far shown few public signs of progress.
The two-day conference features Afghan Cabinet members, ambassadors, Afghan provincial governors plus representatives of the United Nations.
Taleban spokesmen have ruled out peace talks unless foreign forces leave Afghanistan. The militia is waging a nearly 10-year war against US-led foreign forces in Afghanistan, which currently number around 130,000, plus the Afghan police and military.
About 200 Taleban fighters attacked a police outpost in a remote, mountainous region in the east on Tuesday, police and government officials said, with two insurgents killed during a gunfight lasting several hours.
The Taleban announced this month the start of its long-awaited “spring offensive,” with dozens of fighters staging a two-day siege in the southern city of Kandahar that came to a bloody end on Sunday.
US and Afghan commanders have also warned of a spike in violence as insurgents push back after NATO-led troops made gains during offensives, mainly in the Taleban heartland in the south, over the past year.
Afghan and foreign troops however have less control over more remote areas in provinces like Nuristan and Kunar in the east near the border with Pakistan.
Shamul Rahman, the police chief of Nuristan, said there had been "a short engagement" between Taleban fighters and Afghan security forces after insurgents attacked a police outpost in the Chapras area of Nuristan earlier on Tuesday.
He said two insurgents were killed and one wounded, and three members of Afghan security forces wounded during the battle. "A group of insurgents fired on a police outpost and were pushed back," Rahman told Reuters by telephone in Nuristan. "The gunbattle lasted for few hours."
He said about 200 Taleban fighters had crossed into Nuristan from the Chapa Dara district in neighboring Kunar province, climbing into mountains above the police outpost to launch their attack.
A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul said the coalition was aware of reports of fighting in the area but said it had not yet been asked for help.
"We are certainly standing by to assist if we receive a request," the ISAF spokesman said.
Nuristan Gov. Jamaluddin Badr said insurgents have sanctuaries in Chapa Dara, from where they sometimes launch attacks into Nuristan.
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says the killing of Bin Laden is a potential game-changer that could lead to greater stability in Afghanistan and bringing US troops home.
Sen. John Kerry made the comments at the start of a hearing on Afghanistan. Kerry says a precipitous US troop withdrawal would be a mistake. But the US should be working toward a smaller force that puts Afghans in charge, he said.
"Instead, we should be working toward the smallest footprint necessary, a presence that puts Afghans in charge — and presses them to stop up to that task," Kerry said as his panel held a hearing on the US strategy in Afghanistan.
Kerry said it was unsustainable to continue spending $10 billion a month with no end in sight.
Meanwhile, the office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy says that a French Navy corporal has been killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb.
The victim was the 56th French troop to die since 2001, when French engagement in Afghanistan began.
Tuesday's statement by Sarkozy's office says the corporal was killed during a reconnaissance mission in the eastern Kapisa region where French soldiers are engaged as part of the NATO mission.
