British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is set to drop a bombshell on the White House, announcing a policy shift on Afghanistan that includes negotiating with the Taliban, according to a report in the The Independent.

The newspaper is reporting Dec. 12 that Brown believes it is time to open a dialogue with Afghanistan's former rulers. Brown's belief is that talking with the Taliban could help end combat in Afghanistan by developing consensus-building among tribal leaders, according to the report.

The paper cited an unidentified senior Downing Street official in saying Brown's intention to talk to the Taliban is part of a three-pronged approach to resolve the situation in Afghanistan. The plan also includes continued security assistance for the Afghan army and economic and political assistance.

As for talking with the Taliban,the source told the paper: "We need to ask who are we fighting? Do we need to fight them? Can we be talking to them?"

British senior government officials told the paper it was an error to see the Taliban as a unified organisation rather than as a disparate group of Afghan tribesmen, often farmers recruited at the end of the gun, infiltrated by foreign fighters. The aim is to divide the Taliban's local support from al-Qa'ida and militants from Pakistan.

Any dialogue with the former Afghanistan rulers is bound to draw resistance and criticism from Afghan President Hamid Karzai and also the White House, the paper reports, but says the new strategy is another attempt by Brown to distance himself from President Bush, as well as the policy adopted by Brown's predecessor, Tony Blair.

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