20 Jun 2013

Karzai to boycott peace talks with Taliban

6:00 am on 20 June 2013

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday his government will not join peace talks with the Taliban until the process is Afghan-led.

The United States is due to start negotiations with the Taliban in Qatar, where the Taliban has opened an office.

Mr Karzai said the opening of the office contradicted earlier US security guarantees to his government.

He also said he would suspend talks on the US presence in Afghanistan after NATO leaves in 2014.

A statement from Mr Karzai's office said Afghan negotiators would stay away from the Qatar talks until "foreign powers" allowed the process to be run by Afghans.