Row Over Prisoner Transfer Taliban Suspend Talks With the US
An Afghan man sits next to the covered bodies of people who were killed by coalition forces in Kandahar province earlier this month.
Foto: AHMAD NADEEM/ REUTERSThe planned negotiations between the United States and the Taliban announced in January appear to be on hold for the time being. The atmosphere was poisoned by the inadvertent burning of copies of the Koran by US soldiers at a base in Afghanistan and by the shooting rampage by a US soldier who killed 16 Afghan civilians.
Then the Taliban announced they would suspend talks because of the "erratic" behavior of the US government, which they accused of constantly making new demands.
Now the government of Qatar has withdrawn a key condition for negotiations taking place -- a security guarantee for five high-ranking Taliban members who were to be released from the Guantanamo prison camp and put in custody in Qatar.
Washington is demanding that a strict travel ban be imposed on the five Taliban officials, which Qatar isn't willing to guarantee.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai had torpedoed the talks because the Taliban wanted to negotiate directly with the US rather than with him.
A close relative of Tayyeb Agha, the chief negotiator of the Taliban, said the abandonment of talks was temporary. "We know there will never be a solution without talks with the US," said Syed Akbar Agha.
He said a condition for talks was a guarantee that the five Taliban from Guantanamo would be freed.
