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Confusion over planned US-Taliban talks
First direct negotiations may be on hold after Karzai announces boycott amid row over name of group's office in Doha.
Tensions over the Taliban's new political office in Qatar have thrown planned talks between the Afghan anti-government group and the US into disarray.
The meeting was expected to take place in Doha on Thursday but the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, has said he will not be attending it.
Wednesday's developments came one day after the US announced it would engage in direct negotiations with the armed group.
Karzai said he would boycott any talks unless they were led by his government. "As long as the peace process is not Afghan-led, the High Peace Council will not participate in the talks in Qatar," he said in a statement, referring to a body he set up in 2010 to seek a negotiated peace with the Taliban.
"Reports of a meeting scheduled are inaccurate," Jen Psaki, State Department spokeswoman, said on Wednesday, saying that the US 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."
Mohammad Suhail Shaheen, a member of the Taliban's new political office in Doha, told Al Jazeera that the only purpose of the office is to find lasting peace in Afghanistan.
"This office was opened in order to bring about peace and to find a peaceful solution [...] which is the main thing and all parties should try to make that happen," said Shaheen, adding that no one should try and disrupt the peace process "as we see from the Kabul administration".
"We enter this with good intentions and seek to a peaceful solution to the Afghan issues, and we want all sides to have the same intention".
No travel plans
Psaki confirmed that James Dobbins, US special envoy, had not left Washington on Tuesday as planned for the talks.
"Right now, Ambassador Dobbins is in Washington. I don't have any planned travel for you to announce," she said.
Karzai, who has headed the US-backed Afghan government since the US-led invasion in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks brought down the Taliban, opposes bilateral US-Taliban talks.
In another decision on Wednesday, he broke off ongoing Afghan-US talks on an agreement to allow the US to maintain soldiers in Afghanistan after a NATO combat mission ends next year over what it called the US' "inconsistent statement and action" over the peace process.
A dispute over the name of the Taliban's Doha office has raised new concerns among the Americans too.
The row centres on the Taliban office calling itself the "Islamic Emirate Of Afghanistan" - the formal name of its 1996-2001 government - and portraying itself as a state in exile, officials said.
Psaki insisted that "we do not recognise the name Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan", adding that John Kerry, the secretary of state, had made that clear in two phone calls in the past 24 hours with Karzai.
Kerry also "noted that the government of Qatar has taken steps today to ensure that the political office is in compliance with the conditions established by the government of Qatar for its operations".
Source: Agencies
Confusion over planned US-Taliban talks - Americas - Al Jazeera English
First direct negotiations may be on hold after Karzai announces boycott amid row over name of group's office in Doha.
Tensions over the Taliban's new political office in Qatar have thrown planned talks between the Afghan anti-government group and the US into disarray.
The meeting was expected to take place in Doha on Thursday but the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, has said he will not be attending it.
Wednesday's developments came one day after the US announced it would engage in direct negotiations with the armed group.
Karzai said he would boycott any talks unless they were led by his government. "As long as the peace process is not Afghan-led, the High Peace Council will not participate in the talks in Qatar," he said in a statement, referring to a body he set up in 2010 to seek a negotiated peace with the Taliban.
"Reports of a meeting scheduled are inaccurate," Jen Psaki, State Department spokeswoman, said on Wednesday, saying that the US 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."
Mohammad Suhail Shaheen, a member of the Taliban's new political office in Doha, told Al Jazeera that the only purpose of the office is to find lasting peace in Afghanistan.
"This office was opened in order to bring about peace and to find a peaceful solution [...] which is the main thing and all parties should try to make that happen," said Shaheen, adding that no one should try and disrupt the peace process "as we see from the Kabul administration".
"We enter this with good intentions and seek to a peaceful solution to the Afghan issues, and we want all sides to have the same intention".
No travel plans
Psaki confirmed that James Dobbins, US special envoy, had not left Washington on Tuesday as planned for the talks.
"Right now, Ambassador Dobbins is in Washington. I don't have any planned travel for you to announce," she said.
Karzai, who has headed the US-backed Afghan government since the US-led invasion in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks brought down the Taliban, opposes bilateral US-Taliban talks.
In another decision on Wednesday, he broke off ongoing Afghan-US talks on an agreement to allow the US to maintain soldiers in Afghanistan after a NATO combat mission ends next year over what it called the US' "inconsistent statement and action" over the peace process.
A dispute over the name of the Taliban's Doha office has raised new concerns among the Americans too.
The row centres on the Taliban office calling itself the "Islamic Emirate Of Afghanistan" - the formal name of its 1996-2001 government - and portraying itself as a state in exile, officials said.
Psaki insisted that "we do not recognise the name Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan", adding that John Kerry, the secretary of state, had made that clear in two phone calls in the past 24 hours with Karzai.
Kerry also "noted that the government of Qatar has taken steps today to ensure that the political office is in compliance with the conditions established by the government of Qatar for its operations".
Source: Agencies
Confusion over planned US-Taliban talks - Americas - Al Jazeera English
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