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Afghan peace plans in limbo
AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai has been mulling his response to US efforts to repair damaged ties after a public spat over the Taliban opening an office in Qatar for peace talks.Karzai and US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke twice by telephone after the Afghan government became enraged that the office was opened in a blaze of publicity and US officials were apparently about to arrive for talks. The office used the formal name of "Islamic Emirate Of Afghanistan" from the rebels' 1996-2001 government, and a Taliban spokesman at the opening press conference declined to say they supported the peace process. "John Kerry assured that the Qatari government has removed the 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan' sign from the Taliban office and the office is for peace talks only," a statement from Karzai's office said late on Wednesday. Karzai told Kerry that Afghan public opinion was "extremely negative" over the way in which the Taliban office had been unveiled in an event that many experts described as an international publicity coup for the insurgents. US deputy ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo told a UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan on Thursday that the office must not be treated as, or represent itself as, an embassy or other office representing the Afghan Taliban as an emirate, government, or sovereign. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday he hoped planned US-Taliban peace talks could start "sooner rather than later". "I think peace talks could reinforce security gains and further contrib Posted by: tipper 2013-06-20 |
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