KABUL, Sept 30, 2008 (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday he had asked the king of Saudi Arabia to help engage the Taliban militia in peace talks but that they had not yet started.

The US-backed Karzai said the negotiations had not started yet but Afghan envoys had made repeated trips to the Gulf kingdom and to neighbouring Pakistan to facilitate them.

'Since two years I have been sending letters and messages to the Saudi Arabian king and requested him, as a world Muslim leader, to help us bring peace in Afghanistan,' Karzai told a news conference.

'The preparation for negotiations is going on on a daily basis. Our envoys traveled many times to Saudi Arabia and to Pakistan but the discussions have not started yet. We hope that it happens soon.'

Karzai's comments came two days after Britain's Observer newspaper reported the Taliban were in secret negotiations brokered by Saudi King Abdullah to end the conflict in Afghanistan.