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US denies talks with Taliban scheduled

Iran Press TV

Wed Jun 19, 2013 9:30PM GMT

The United States has described as inaccurate reports that it has arranged a formal meeting with the Taliban at their newly-opened office in the Qatari capital Doha.

"Reports of a meeting scheduled are inaccurate," AFP quoted US State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki as saying on Wednesday.

Psaki also pointed out that Washington had "never confirmed" any specific meeting.

"We are now in consultations with the Afghan leadership and the High Peace Council on how to move forward," she said.

Several reports had said the US and the Taliban would meet in Doha on Thursday in a bid to find a political solution to the war that has been raging on for nearly 12 years.

Earlier on Wednesday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in a statement his government would not join talks with the Taliban and suspended negotiations with Washington on the nature of US presence in Afghanistan after foreign troops leave the country in 2014.

He said the High Peace Council would not take part in the talks with the Taliban in Doha "until the process is completely left to Afghans."

Karzai created the body in 2010 to broker peace with the Taliban militants.

"In view of the contradiction between acts and the statements made by the United States of America in regard to the peace process, the Afghan government suspended the negotiations, currently underway in Kabul between Afghan and US delegations on the bilateral security agreement," Karzai's statement added.

On Tuesday, Taliban representatives and Qatari officials opened the office in Doha in a ceremony that featured a large poster reading "the opening of the political office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in Doha."

An Afghan official said the office gave the Taliban "an official identity", to which the Kabul government objected.

"The US officials told us the office will be used to move peace talks forward, but not to give them an identity," the official said.

"The Taliban's flag and the banner of the Islamic Emirate was something we did not expect," the official added.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that "the office ... is the political office of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and is not the political office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan."

The Taliban used the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan during their 1996-2001 rule.

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but after almost 12 years, insecurity remains across the country.

The increasing number of military casualties in Afghanistan has caused widespread anger in the US and other NATO member states, undermining public support for the Afghan war.

MN/MHB