Amid new tensions, Dobbins set to meet Karzai

KABUL arrived in Kabul on

Monday

Ambassador James Dobbins will meet President Hamid Karzai and other senior Afghan officials and representatives, the US embassy said.

A wide range of bilateral and regional issues, including the reconciliation process, would be discussed at the meetings, a statement from the embassy said.

President Obama and President Karzai have agreed the reconciliation drive is the surest way to a lasting peace and a unified, stable and secure Afghanistan.

Dobbins’ visit to Afghanistan comes at a time of tension between Kabul and Washington over the opening of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar.

On Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the government would hold talks with the Taliban in Qatar only if the militants honoured their commitments.

The Taliban’s political office — the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan — was opened in Doha last week, with support from the Obama administration.

But the Afghan government strongly opposed the office under that name and suspended negotiations with the US on the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA).

Later, Secretary of State John Kerry told Karzai over the telephone the name sign had been removed from the office and the Taliban flag lowered.

But the rebel movement said it had halted talks with the US and that it had neither changed the name of the office nor removed its flag.

The Afghan government opposes the opening of the Taliban’s office, alleging it was against the agreement on the subject between Kabul and Washington.

The US had failed to keep the promise it held out to the Afghan government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Janan Musazai told a news conference in Kabul yesterday.

pr/mud

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