Russia urged the Syrian government on Friday to act on its stated readiness for dialogue with its opponents, throwing its weight behind a diplomatic push to end a 21-month-old conflict in Syria.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he had urged Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Makdad to emphasize his government's openness to dialogue with the opposition during talks in Moscow on Thursday.

"We actively encouraged ... the Syrian leadership to make as concrete as possible its declared readiness for dialogue with the opposition," Lavrov told reporters after talks with his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Kamel Amr in Moscow.

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He said the Syrian government should stress its readiness for talks on the widest possible range of matters, in line with an international agreement in Geneva last June calling for a transitional government.

"I think a realistic and detailed assessment of the situation inside Syria will prompt reasonable opposition members to seek ways to start a political dialogue," added Lavrov, who last week said that neither side would win by force.

Putin says fate of Assad unimportant to him

Russia expects to meet a senior U.S. diplomat on Syria next month to discuss with international Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi his plans to end the civil war there, the Kremlin's envoy to the region said earlier on Friday.

Brahimi will visit Moscow on Saturday for talks on the results of his negotiations with Syrian President Bashar Assad and his opponents during a five-day trip to Damascus in which he called for political change to end the bloodshed.

"We will listen to what Lakhdar Brahimi has to say about the situation in Syria, and after that, probably, there will be a decision to hold a new meeting of the 'three Bs'," Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the RIA news agency -- in a word play on the first letter of the diplomats' last names.

Bogdanov, U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns and Brahimi, the joint special representative of the United Nations and the Arab League, agreed that a political solution to the crisis was necessary and possible in talks earlier this month.

Bogdanov, the Kremlin's special envoy for Middle East Affairs, said the three would meet again in January after the holidays.

Russia has also invited the head of the internationally-recognized, opposition Syrian National Council, Moaz al-Khatib, to talks, he said, in comments that appeared underline Moscow's commitment to helping Brahimi seek a way out of the crisis.

Brahimi, who has called for a transitional government to rule until elections, is trying to broker a peaceful transfer of power in Syria, where more than 44,000 people have been killed in a revolt against four decades of Assad family rule.

Past peace efforts have floundered as what began as peaceful protests in March 2011 turned into civil war. The conflict has become an increasingly sectarian struggle between mostly Sunni Muslim rebels and Assad's security forces, drawn primarily from his Shiite-rooted Alawite minority.

Assad forces accused of using 'poisonous gases'

World powers think Russia, which has given Assad military and diplomatic aid during the uprising, has the ear of Syria's government and must be a central player in any peace talks.

Moscow has tried to distance itself from Assad in recent months and has denied it is propping him up. But it maintains Assad's exit cannot be a precondition for talks and has repeatedly said Western powers should not impose solutions on Syria.

Lavrov warned on Thursday that time was running out to find a peaceful solution to the conflict and halt a descent into "bloody chaos".

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Updated at 5:20 a.m. ET: KABUL - Gunmen shot dead a top Afghan peace negotiator in the capital Kabul on Sunday, police said, dealing a massive blow to the country's attempts to negotiate a peace deal with Taliban insurgents. 

Maulvi Arsala Rahmani was one of the most senior members on Afghanistan's High Peace Council, set up by President Hamid Karzai two years ago to open talks with insurgents. 

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"He (Rahmani) was stuck in heavy traffic when another car beside him opened fire," said General Mohammad Zahir, head of the investigations unit for Kabul police. 

Rahmani, one of about 70 influential Afghans and former Taliban appointed by Karzai to try to reconcile with the insurgents, was on his way to a meeting with lawmakers and other officials in a government-run media center in the heavily barricaded diplomatic center of Kabul. 

"His driver did not immediately realise that Rahmani had been killed," police official Zahir told Reuters, adding that no one had been arrested in connection with the shooting. 

No group took responsibility for the attack. 

'Frustrated': Dad of Taliban prisoner Bowe Bergdahl takes matters into own hands

Rahmani was essential to the peace process, a BBC News producer in Kabul quoted an Afghan legislator as saying.  

"(The) killing of Rahmani is the work of those who are against Peace Process. Rahmani was the backbone of (the) peace process," BBC News producer Bilal Sarwary quoted MP Mirwais Yasini as saying in a tweet.

Rahmani served as minister of higher education during the Taliban regime, which ruled Afghanistan for five years and sheltered al-Qaida before being driven out of power in the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001.  He was one of several former members of the Taliban who were removed from a U.N. blacklist in July 2011. The decision by a U.N. committee eliminated a travel ban and an assets freeze against Rahmani and the others -- a move seen as key to promoting the peace effort.

Afghan president says civilian deaths could render US pact 'meaningless'

NATO in Afghanistan condenmed the killing.

"The only possible aim of this attack is to intimidate those, who like Rahmani, want to help make Afghanistan a better place for its citizens and the region," it said in a statement. "This attack is clear evidence that those who oppose the legitimate government of Afghanistan have absolutely no interest in supporting the peace process on any level but through murder, thuggery, and intimidation."

The head of the peace council and former Afghan president, Burhanuddin Rabbani, was assassinated by a suicide bomber last year. 

In separate news, U.K. officials announced that two British servicemen were shot by members of the Afghan police force

The Ministry of Defence said the two had been providing security near a base in the Lashkar Gah in Helmand province.

Reuters, The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report. 

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NEW DELHI -- Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stood together in New Delhi on Sunday, adding weight to peace efforts by the nuclear-armed foes with the first visit by a Pakistani head of state to India in seven years.

Relations have warmed since Pakistan promised its neighbor most favored nation trade status last year, although a $10 million bounty offered by Washington for a Pakistani Islamist blamed for the 2008 attacks on Mumbai stirred old grievances.

The leaders discussed Kashmir, theater of two of three wars between India and Pakistan, as well as terrorism and trade during a 40-minute meeting on their own before sharing lunch, India's Foreign Secretary Rajan Mathai told reporters.

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"We would like to have better relations with India. We have spoken on all topics that we could have spoken about and we are hoping to meet on Pakistani soil very soon," Zardari told a briefing as they emerged from Singh's residence.

Singh said he hoped to make his first visit to Pakistan at a convenient date.

"Relations between India and Pakistan should become normal. That's our common desire," he said. "We have a number of issues and we are willing to find tactical, pragmatic solutions to all those issues and that's the message that president Zardari and I would wish to convey."

Zardari then headed to the shrine in western India of a revered Sufi Muslim saint seen as a symbol of harmony between South Asia's often competing religions.

On his first visit to India as part of the 40-member delegation, Zardari's son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, stood behind the leaders, in a sign of his growing role in politics.

Mathai said Singh offered Zardari India's help in finding 124 Pakistani soldiers and 11 civilians engulfed by an avalanche on Saturday near the 18,500-foot Siachen glacier in Kashmir - known as the world's highest battlefield.

Zardari thanked Singh but did not immediately respond to the offer to help rescue teams, backed by helicopters and sniffer dogs combing an area one-km (half a mile) wide with snow up to 80 feet deep. Hundreds have died at Siachen over the years, mainly from the inhospitable conditions.

A foreign ministry source said the timing of any visit by Singh to Pakistan will depend on issues including a conflict over the oil-rich Sir Creek river estuary, one of their longest running disputes.

Singh told Zardari it was imperative to bring to justice the perpetrators of a 2008 attack on India's financial capital, Mumbai - a three-day gun and bomb rampage by 10 Pakistani militants that left 166 dead and derailed the peace process.

Talks only resumed last year.

The Indian prime minister raised the continued freedom of Hafiz Saeed, the Islamist suspected of masterminding the attack. Saeed will be discussed again at a forthcoming meeting between home ministry officials, Mathai said.

India is furious Pakistan has not detained Saeed, despite handing over evidence against him. Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Friday that anyone with concrete proof to prosecute Saeed should present it to the courts.

Relaxed visa rules will be signed at the same meeting of officials. Pakistan is expected to formally designate India as a most-favored-nation later this year.

With $10 million bounty on his head, militant openly taunts US

With Zardari and Singh both suffering major domestic problems, prospects are low for fixing the Kashmir stand-off.

Lasting Pakistan-India peace would go a long way to smoothing a perilous transition in Afghanistan as most NATO combat forces prepare to leave by the end of 2014.

India and Pakistan fought their most recent war in 1999, shortly after both sides declared they possessed nuclear weapons. Hundreds died on the defacto border in Kashmir before Pakistani troops and militants were forced to withdraw.

Born in a village in what is now Pakistan, Singh has pushed for peace during his two terms in office, but his efforts were knocked off track by the 2008 ouster of former President Pervez Musharraf, with whom he had built trust, and the Mumbai raids.

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Informal meetings, during international cricket matches, or in this case before Zardari's pilgrimage to the Sufi shrine, have become the hallmark of Singh's diplomacy.

In November, Singh met Gilani in the Maldives and promised to open a new chapter in their history. Hopes are focused on boosting trade and tourism, and resolving the conflict at the Siachen glacier and Sir Creek in the west.

Musharraf, the last Pakistani head of state to visit India in 2005, has said both issues were as good as fixed while he was in office.

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Updated at 2:10 p.m. ET
The Associated Press reports that Jordan's foreign minister says the first meetings between Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators in more than a year have ended without any significant breakthroughs.

Nasser Judeh, who hosted Tuesday's meeting in Amman, says the talks were held in a positive atmosphere.

Although he says there were no breakthroughs on matters of "substance," he says "the important thing is the two sides have met face to face."

Peace talks broke down in September 2010. The Palestinians say they will not resume talks while Israel continues to build Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Israel insists on talks without preconditions.

Earlier Tuesday:
The chief Palestinian peace negotiator said his first meeting with Israelis in more than a year will be a last-ditch effort to salvage the peace process and warned that the Palestinians would explore alternatives if no progress is made.

Saeb Erekat said he was holding out hope for Tuesday's meeting in Jordan, but acknowledged his expectations were low as he reiterated his long-standing demand for an Israeli freeze on settlement construction.

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Without a breakthrough, he warned, the Palestinians will be forced to examine alternatives to peace talks at the end of the month. Those could include again trying for recognition at the U.N.

"The Jordanian efforts are the last-minute efforts to salvage the situation," Erekat warned.

Not formal talks
Erekat is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's peace envoy, Yitzhak Molcho, at Tuesday's meeting. It is the first time the sides are meeting since negotiations collapsed in September 2010.

Officials say the meeting is not a formal negotiating session. Instead, it is aimed at finding enough common ground to resume negotiations.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged both sides to "take advantage of this opportunity."

• STORY: Panetta on Mideast peace: 'Get to the table'

"The need for a lasting peace is more urgent than ever. The status quo is not sustainable and the parties must act boldly to advance the cause of peace," Clinton said.

The meeting is taking place under the auspices of the Quartet, an international group that mediates Mideast peace efforts. The Quartet, consisting of the U.S., European Union, Russia and the United Nations, has been trying to revive talks for months with the goal of forging a peace deal by the end of this year.

The Palestinians want to establish an independent state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. Israel captured all three areas in the 1967 Mideast war, though it withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

A short-lived round of peace talks broke down in September 2010 after an Israeli moratorium on settlement construction expired.

The Palestinians say they will not resume talks unless Israel stops building settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. They say it is a sign of bad faith if Israel continues to build on the very lands the Palestinians claim for their independent state. The Palestinians also say Israel must agree to withdraw to its pre-1967 lines as the basis for the future border of the two countries.

Dialogue is 'only way'
Israel has rejected all of the Palestinian demands and says negotiations should start without preconditions. Netanyahu has already said he opposes a return to the 1967 lines.

Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev expressed hope that the meeting in Jordan will "bring about as soon as possible the resumption of direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians."

"The only way to achieve peace and reconciliation is through dialogue," he added.

While Israeli-Palestinian deadlock is nothing new, the situation has been complicated by recent developments.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is in the midst of reconciliation efforts with the Hamas militant group, which seized control of the Gaza Strip from his forces in 2007. Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group and has warned that it cannot make peace with a Palestinian government that includes Hamas.

Hamas has sent mixed messages about Abbas' peace efforts. Hamas' supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal, has said he would not stand in the way if Abbas chooses to resume negotiations.

But in Gaza on Monday, Hamas officials urged Abbas to call off the meeting in Jordan. "We ask the Palestinian Authority to give priority to the reconciliation between Palestinians and to continue to reject any meeting or negotiations with the occupation," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

The secular Jordanian regime is also eager to counter the growing Islamist influence. A failed peace process would strengthen Islamists inside Jordan and potentially spill over from the West Bank into Jordan, whose population is already heavily Palestinian.

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The deputy leader of the Pakistani Taliban said Saturday that peace negotiations were underway with Pakistan's government, NBC News reported.

Maulvi Faqir Mohammad said the government had released 145 of their prisoners and halted military operation in the Bajaur tribal region.

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The Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehrik-e-Taliban, has been waging a four-year war against the government in Islamabad and the peace talks could further fray the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, Reuters said.

There was no immediate comment from the administration on whether talks were taking place. The United States, the source of billions of dollars of aid vital for Pakistan's military and feeble economy, is unlikely to look kindly on the peace talks with a group it has labeled as terrorists.

Speaking from somewhere in Afghanistan by phone, Mohammad said talks with the government started after the All Parties Conference in Islamabad a few months back, in which the political leadership supported peace negotiations with Pakistani Taliban for the restoration of peace.

"The Taliban were reluctant earlier to seriously take offers for peace talks came from the government as the government had lost its credibility by arresting some senior Taliban commanders in Swat such as Haji Muslim Khan ... (and) Mahmud Khan. They were invited for holding peace talks and were then taken into custody," the Taliban leader told NBC News.

No military solution
He said the government had recently showed some courage in changing its polices toward the Taliban and tribal regions.

"Our talks are going in the right direction," Mohammad told Reuters. 

He said the government had realized that there was no military solution to the conflict in Pakistan.

"We have no wish to fight against our own armed forces and destroy our own country," he said. "There has been development in our peace talks, but the government would have to show more flexibility in its stance, and restore the trust of Taliban by releasing their prisoners and stop military operations against them."

Mohammad said the militants had pledged a cease-fire. He added that Pakistan and Afghanistan should unite against what he called foreign occupations by non-Muslims.

The Pakistani Taliban, known as the TTP, is allied with the Afghan Taliban movement fighting U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan.

It is entrenched in the unruly areas along the porous frontier. It pledged to overthrow the Pakistani government after the military started operations against the TTP.

Time to consolidate
Past peace pacts with the TTP have failed to bring stability, and merely gave the umbrella group time and space to consolidate, launch fresh attacks and impose their austere version of Islam on segments of the population.

Mohammad heads the TTP faction based in Bajaur, at the northeast end of the Pashtun belt along the border. He is known to be close to al-Qaida. His men focused on attacking into Afghanistan until U.S. drones, hunting for al-Qaida deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, began strikes in his area in early 2006.

Mohammad was believed to have been behind several attacks on Pakistani security forces. The army launched an offensive in Bajaur in August 2008 and largely cleared the region after months of at times heavy fighting.

The statement Saturday was the first time that a named commander has said the group is negotiating with the Pakistani government.The government has previously denied any such talks.

NBC News, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.