The United States has held a meeting with representatives of the Haqqani militant network, the US Secretary of State, Hiliary Clinton revealed on Friday, during current talks in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Speaking to journalists in Pakistan, Clinton said,

"We believe that there is now an opportunity for us to begin talking, but there is no guarantee that the talking will result in anything that will move us toward a peaceful resolution."

"We are going to continue fighting where necessary to protect our interests, and so are the Pakistani military because you cannot allow terrorists to gain ground."

"But we are also open to talking. We have reached out to the Taliban, we have reached out to the Haqqani network to test their willingness and their sincerity."

"In fact, the Pakistani government officials helped to facilitate such a meeting."

"And we're now working among us -- Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States -- to try to put together a process that would sequence us toward an actual negotiation."

"we're not in any kind of negotiations. We've had one preliminary meeting just to see if they would show up."

The meeting is reported to have taken place this summer, before two signficant attacks on US troops in Afghanistan and on the US embassy in Kabul. The Haqqani network are believed to be responsible.

Clinton is currently leading a US delegation that includes CIA chief, David Patraeus and the new chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Martin Dempsey.