US DENIES TALKS PLANNED WITH TALIBAN GROUP

      Washington, 11 Sya’ban 1434/20 Juni 2013 (MINA) – The State Department has said that the US has not scheduled talks with the Taliban, after reports that discussions with the Afghan group could begin this week in the Qatari capital, Doha.

      “Reports of a meeting scheduled are inaccurate,” spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday. “Washington 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.”

      Psaki confirmed that US special envoy James Dobbins had not left Washington on Tuesday as planned for the talks, Aljazeera quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

     The comments come one day after the US announced it would engage in direct negotiations with the Taliban as the armed group’s political wing opened an office in the Qatari capital.

     Earlier in the same day, Afghan president Hamid Karzai said that the government of Afghanistan will not participate in peace talks with the Taliban group unless the Afghans have full leadership of the peace process, the Khaama Press reports.

      Taliban group on Tuesday formally opened its political office in Qatar in the absence of government officials.

      The statement of Presidential Palace further added that the decision was taken during a meeting attended by former Mujahideen leaders, political figures and executive members of the Afhgan peace council.

US-Afghan talks suspended

      The Afghan president, who has headed the US-backed Afghan government since the US-led invasion in the wake of the September 11 attacks brought, opposes bilateral US-Taliban talks.

      And on Wednesday he broke off separate ongoing Afghan-US talks on an agreement to allow Washington to maintain soldiers in Afghanistan after a NATO combat mission ends next year over.

        This makes the U.S. called it a  inconsistent statement and actions on the peace process.

        The row centered 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 US Secretary of State John Kerry had made that clear in two phone calls in the past 24 hours with Karzai. (T/P09/E1).

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).