Not content to pull out of Basrah before the security situation there could be settled, it seems the British have again sought to conduct negotiations with the Taliban, the group that sheltered al Qaeda prior to and after September 11. On December 11, This is London reported that Prime Minister Gordon Brown was set to tell Parliament that “negotiation [with the Taliban] is the only way to bring peace to the war torn country.” This report was not substantiated by the major British news outlets, and in fact the next day Prime Minister Brown stated there would be no negotiations with the Taliban. But it appears the British have already conducted negotiations with the Taliban. The Telegraph reports: