In a statement on their purported website "Voice of Jihad," the Islamists said they had held "preliminary talks with relevant sides including Qatar" to open an office outside Afghanistan, without confirming where it would be.
One of their demands would be for a prisoner exchange to include the release of inmates from the U.S.-run detention facility Guantanamo Bay, they said.
"We're now prepared, while having a strong presence inside (Afghanistan) to have a political office outside (Afghanistan) for negotiations," the statement said, reiterating the stance that all foreign troops must leave to end the war.
The jihad boy group, now into an 11th year of fighting President Hamid
Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a
Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
's Western-backed government, said: "The occupation of the country must be ended and Afghans must be allowed to create an Islamic government of their choice that would do no harm to anyone."
But it rejected some media reports that negotiations with the U.S. had begun.
The comments come two days after Karzai made a public statement to welcome remarks by U.S. Vice President
Joe Foreign Policy Whiz KidBiden
The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body...
that the Taliban "per se is not our enemy," saying it would help bring peace and stability to Afghanistan.
Biden's comments to Newsweek magazine triggered controversy in the U.S. but reflected an increasing focus on finding a political settlement.
Karzai has agreed that if the United States wants to set up a Taliban address in Qatar to enable peace talks he will not stand in the way, as long as Afghanistan is involved in the process.
The September liquidation of Karzai's peace envoy, former president Burhanuddin Rabbani
... the gentlemanly murdered legitimate president of Afghanistan...
, appeared to have derailed any prospects of progress in talks.
In the interview with Newsweek Biden emphasized the need for the Taliban to cut ties with al-Qaeda.
As it pushes for a political settlement, the Afghan government has changed its tone towards the jihad boys, referring to "terrorist" rather than "Taliban" attacks.
But many Afghans fear if the Taliban is allowed into mainstream politics, their influence will see the undermining of human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
and freedoms.