Advertise On EU-Digest

Annual Advertising Rates

6/20/13

Afghanistan’s Karzai shuns US-Taliban peace talks - by Philip Crowther

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday his government would not join U.S. peace talks with the Taliban and halted negotiations with Washington on a troop pact, underscoring the fragile nature of hopes for a negotiated peace in Afghanistan.

“As long as the peace process is not Afghan-led, the High Peace Council will not participate in the talks in Qatar,” Karzai said in a statement, referring to a body he set up in 2010 to seek a negotiated peace with the Taliban.

Underlining the importance of the process to the United States, the State Department said Secretary of State John Kerry would travel to Doha for meetings with senior Qatari officials on Friday and Saturday. A U.S. delegation had arrived in Qatar earlier for the Taliban negotiations, a diplomatic source said.

Read more: Afghanistan’s Karzai shuns US-Taliban peace talks - AFGHANISTAN - FRANCE 24

No comments: