Mere days after the announcement of peace talks between Afghanistan, the U.S. and the Taliban with great optimism the talks are already starting to fall apart. Taliban leaders are considering removing themselves from the talks after the name of their office was criticized, according to The New York Times.
The Taliban recently opened an office in Doha, Qatar, where the peace talks were supposed to occur. The office has a sign saying that the office belongs to the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," prompting an incensed response from the Afghani government.
"The governments of America and of Qatar backtracked on the promise they made to us on the flag and the name," a senior Taliban official told The New York Times. "It was agreed we could use them. But because of the Kabul regime they backtracked."
Officials from the U.S. and Qatar deny that any such assurances were given. The government of Qatar has said that the office was to be called "the political bureau of the Afghan Taliban in Doha," according to The New York Times.
One of the prerequisites of the peace talks that was insisted upon by the U.S. was that the Taliban issue a statement that they will not support the use of Afghani soil as a launching point for international terrorism, hopes were that this would weaken their link with al-Qaeda.
While the Taliban did make the statement they did so with placards reading "Political Office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" and the flag they had used while ruling Afghanistan prominently displayed, reports the Associated Press.
Martine van Bijlert, an analyst based in Kabul, told the Associated Press how the Taliban's press conference went over with the leaders in Afghanistan.
"To have this whole ceremony, televised worldwide, without a single mention of the Afghan government have a role in whatever process is going to happen...they (Karzai and his peace delegation) suddenly realized, basically they weren't out in front, they didn't feature at all," van Bijlert said.
The Taliban has removed the sign from outside of the office and lowered the flag so that it can only be seen within the office but they have no intention of removing any of the signage within the office, according to The New York Times.
The Afghani contingent removed themselves from the potential of peace talks over the signs. Karzai also suspended talks with the U.S. over the removal of troops from Afghanistan scheduled for 2014.
It is probably too early to dismiss any chance of the peace talks working but for now they are on an indefinite hold, according to the Associated Press.
