Afghan government to shun U.S. talks with Taliban

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Yahoo News:

KABUL (Reuters) - 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.

The United States and the Taliban have said officials from both sides will meet in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on Thursday, in a step forward for a stuttering peace process after 12 years `,of bloody and costly war between U.S.-led forces and the insurgents.

But Afghan officials, angered by the opening of a Taliban political office in Doha on Tuesday, said the United States had violated assurances it would not give official status to the insurgents.

"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.

Fighting continued in the war-ravaged nation. Four U.S. soldiers were killed in a rocket attack on the heavily fortified Bagram base near Kabul late on Tuesday, international military officials said.

The Taliban's spokesman in Qatar on Wednesday confirmed the insurgency movement would attend Thursday's meeting with U.S. officials, but gave no time for the talks. The spokesman, Mohammed Naeem, told Reuters by telephone that no Afghan government officials would be at that meeting.

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No talks with the Taliban?