Karzai refuses Taleban talks unless US quits table

Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai has said he will not enter peace talks with the Taleban unless America steps out, and voiced his anger at US political recognition for the ­Islamic militants.

Afghan security forces escort a captured suspected Taliban insurgent. Picture: Reuters

His strong response yesterday deflated hopes for long-stalled talks aimed at ending nearly 12 years of war in Afghanistan, just a day after the US and the Taleban said they would begin meetings in Qatar. He had said on Tuesday that he would send representatives from his high peace council to Qatar for talks but aides said he changed his mind after objecting to the way the announcement was handled, in particular the Taleban’s use of its formal name “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” in opening an office in Doha.

Shafiullah Nooristani, a member of the council, said use of the name violated agreements with the US and caused diplomatic issues for Afghanistan.

“The agreement was that the office should open only – and only – for negotiations, not as a political entity like a parallel institution to the Afghan embassy already there,” he said.

In an attempt at damage control, Qatar’s foreign ministry said the Taleban had violated an agreement to call the office the “Political Bureau of the Afghan Taleban in Doha.” It was not clear from the official report, however, if the Taleban would be forced to change the name.

Mr Karzai also suspended talks on a new US-Afghan security deal that would allow some US troops to remain after the international combat mission ends in 2014 to protest that his government was being left out of the initial process.

The US and Taleban announced on Tuesday they would begin preliminary peace talks in Qatar without Mr Karzai’s government. The expectation had been that his peace council would follow up with its own talks with the Taleban a few days later but that now seems unlikely in the short term.

Mr Nooristan, however, held out hope it would still be possible.

“We are working to solve these contradictions and fix these problems,” he said.

The Taleban have refused to speak to the Afghan government or the peace council, set up by Mr Karzai three years ago, because they considered them to be American “puppets”. Taleban representatives have instead talked to US and other western officials in Doha and other places, mostly in Europe.

President Barack Obama had cautioned that the peace talks with the Taleban would be neither quick nor easy but that their opening a political office in Doha was an “important first step toward reconciliation” between the militants and the Karzai Afghanistan.

Following meetings with Afghan politicians and peace council executives, however, Mr Karzai’s office decided not to participate at all unless its conditions were met.

“Until the peace process is completely Afghan, the high peace council will neither attend nor participate in the talks in Qatar,” his office said.

Mr Karzai also said talks could not begin until the Taleban end violent attacks in Afghanistan.

“The continuation of the Taleban’s message of fighting and bloodshed during the opening of this office totally contradicts the pursuit of peace,” the president’s office said.