The Afghani government strongly criticized on Wednesday US efforts to compromise peace with Taliban, hanging important peace talks with the U.S. and warning of boycotting possible talks with the rebels in Qatar.
The Afghani government strongly criticized on Wednesday US efforts to compromise peace with Taliban, hanging important peace talks with the U.S. and warning of boycotting possible talks with the extremist group in Qatar.
Kabul conveyed its political opinion via two statements that threatened to ruin US efforts to initiate negotiations with Taliban who opened an office in Qatar, calling it "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" -- the formal name of its 1996-2001 government.
The Afghani officials considered that foreign players are behind the opening of Taliban office in Qatar and stressed that this office does not exist in reality.
Several leading Afghani figures lashed out the Taliban-U.S. talks and considered that the Americans are holding agreements with the murderers of the Afghani people.
“U.S. is committing a historical mistake,” Shukria Barakzai, a lawmaker, told AFP.
In response to the decision of the Afghani government to suspend talks, US President Barack Obama considered that “the talks would continue despite all these challenges.”
A U.S. official further said that the American and Taliban envoys would meet in Doha "in a couple of days", after which Taliban would meet the Afghani peace envoys.
The NATO occupation of Afghanistan will end next year, so U.S. officials are trying to reach a security agreement with Taliban to protect their soldiers who will stay in Afghanistan after 2014.
The U.S. seeks to broker peace with the Taliban due to the military attacks the group carries out against the American troops. The latest was a rocket attack overnight Tuesday against a US-led military base killing four American soldiers.
Taliban refused to comment on the peace talks with U.S. yet announced that they would start talks with “the world”.
The extremist group further clarified that it would not stop attacking the American troops during the talks.
