WASHINGTON: The White House said Tuesday that President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai support the idea of holding talks with the Taliban in Qatar office.
In a video call, the two leaders "reaffirmed that an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process is the surest way to end violence and ensure lasting stability in Afghanistan and the region," it said.
"They reiterated their support for an office in Doha for the purpose of negotiations between the (the Afghan government's) High Peace Council and authorized representatives of the Taliban."
Obama appeared to have persuaded Karzai to renew peace efforts after the Afghan leader's furious response to the Taliban's portrayal of its newly opened Qatar office as the headquarters of a state-in-exile.
US envoy James Dobbins said on Monday that Washington was also "outraged" at how the Taliban opened the office, which had been intended as a first step towards a peace deal to end the decade-long war in Afghanistan.
The Afghan government, which has said it is still committed to the peace process, insists the Taliban's office in the Gulf state must only be used for direct negotiations with Karzai's appointed negotiators.
The contentious sign, flag and flagpole unveiled at the opening of the office last Tuesday have now been moved.
Karzai, angered at how the Taliban had been allowed to pull off such a publicity coup, also broke off Afghan-US talks on an agreement that could allow the US to maintain soldiers in Afghanistan after the NATO combat mission ends.
The White House statement said Obama welcomed the June 18 "milestone" at which Afghan security forces take the lead for operations countrywide.
It said the two leaders had discussed the negotiation of a Bilateral Security Agreement but did not say when the talks might be resumed.
About 100,000 foreign combat troops, 68,000 of them American, are due to exit Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
Comments
Comments are closed.