Afghan President Hamid Karzai has backtracked on his promise to conduct peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar on the grounds that the militant group’s office in the Arab sheikhdom might be used for other purposes than talks.
According to a statement issued by Afghan presidential office earlier this week, Karzai will not hold talks with the militant group until Qatar produces a memorandum declaring that the Taliban office would not be used for any “political purpose”.
“This office should be used only as an address for talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban… This office should not be used for any other purpose,” it added.
Karzai said earlier this month that he would hold peace dialogue with the Taliban leaders in near future.
Last year, the Taliban announced reaching a preliminary agreement with Qatar to open a liaison office in the Arab state.
Earlier this week, Afghan president also accused foreign powers of ‘plotting’ against the war-wracked country’s peace process.
“Any effort to conduct peace talks individually is not an effort for peace but it’s a plot by the foreigners, aimed at weakening Afghanistan,” said Karzai at a conference in the capital, Kabul.
The Afghan president, without pointing at any particular country, said he had told the US government during his recent visit to Washington that “no foreign party must try to take the Afghan peace process in its hand.”
The United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 under the pretext of fighting terrorism.
The invasion removed the Taliban from power, but the country remains insecure despite the presence of tens of thousands of US-led forces there.
MAM/JR
