Factbox - Views from London conference on Afghanistan

(Reuters) - The Afghan government on Thursday invited the Taliban to a peace council of elders in a step towards resolving the conflict in Afghanistan.

The following are a selection of comments from delegates at a 60-nation conference on Afghanistan in London.

PAKISTAN FOREIGN MINISTER SHAH MEHMOOD QURESHI

"Obviously the process has to be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned. I think there is a general consensus in the conference that they (the Taliban) have to be engaged and reintegration and reconciliation is required."

President Hamid Karzai has asked for Pakistan's help, Saudi Arabia's help and we will certainly facilitate that process."

BERNARD KOUCHNER, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER

On talking to the Taliban:

"The solution to a war is always to talk to your enemies, unless one party triumphs. That is not the case here, it cannot be the case. So, which Taliban? Is there a link or not with what we refer to as the global jihad, in that case it's not possible, but if they are nationalists as we have known in every party ... then yes, I think it's possible."

IVAN LEWIS, JUNIOR BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER

On whether Britain would accept to deal with a Taliban minister in a future Afghan government:

"It depends whether they renounce violence, whether they agree to play by the rules of the constitution, which include by the way equal rights for women. There can be no going back in Afghanistan on rights for women. So there's a whole series of things that former Taliban leaders and fighters will have to sign up to. If they're willing to do so, including the renunciation of violence, yes of course the international community will engage with them."

URMAS PAET, ESTONIAN FOREIGN MINISTER

On whether everyone at conference sees eye to eye on talking to the Taliban:

"I guess the whole issue here, which is still not clear, is where the upper line should be. To whom to talk and to whom not. I guess the understanding is clear that basically with some elements and some representatives there's a point to talk. The creative part of this is where this upper line will be -- how far to go with the talks and to whom to talk and actually where to draw this line -- who are terrorists."

ORZALA ASHRAF NEMAT - Human rights activist based in Kabul

"I think President Karzai made one of his very typical and usual speeches, starting with reintegration and peace talks with Taliban and putting the anti-corruption strategies at the very end. I personally believe it has to be on the reverse side.

"If there is not a strong transparent and accountable government, any kind of resources he is demanding for reintegrating back the Taliban will just go and be wasted again and maybe five years from now we will come back and say what happened to all that 1.6 billion or something money that was pledged for integrating Taliban?"

(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon, David Brunnstrom and Adrian Croft; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)