U.S. envoy Marc Grossman arrived in Kabul Saturday, Jan 21, for talks with President Hamid Karzai on preliminary peace negotiations with Taliban insurgents.

"The United States stands ready to assist in any way we can an Afghan-led reconciliation process to find a peaceful end to this conflict," he said in a statement.

"I look forward to calling on President Karzai and discussing next steps."

Grossman's visit comes in the wake of an announcement by the Taliban that it planned to open a political office in Qatar ahead of talks with Washington on ending Afghanistan's 10-year war.

A U.S. official said that if Karzai was agreeable, the talks could open within weeks, The Associated Press reported.

France's defense minister also arrived in Kabul on Saturday for top-level talks as Paris warned it could accelerate its withdrawal from the 10-year war after an Afghan soldier shot dead four French soldiers.

Gerard Longuet's plane touched down at 9:30 am (0500 GMT) and the minister briefly met 12 of the French soldiers wounded in Friday's attack before a plane took off to repatriate them for treatment, according to AFP.

"Some of them are in a life-threatening condition and one of them could die in the short term," said chief doctor Christophe, who in keeping with French military policy was not at liberty to release his second name.

The French minister is due to hold talks with President Karzai, the defense and interior ministers, and General John Allen, the American commander of the NATO force in Afghanistan.