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U.S. Presses Taliban on Qatar Office in Bid to Save Talks U.S. Presses Taliban on Qatar Office in Bid to Save Talks
(about 4 hours later)
KABUL, Afghanistan — In a diplomatic scramble to keep alive the possibility of peace talks with the Taliban, American officials on Wednesday pressed the insurgents to backtrack on their effort to present themselves as essentially an alternative government at the office they opened Tuesday in Qatar, Afghan officials said. KABUL, Afghanistan — In a bid to regain control of a peace process with the Taliban that had suddenly spun out of control, President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday slammed the brakes on two strategic lines of American negotiation, again exercising his power in a strained alliance and getting results. 
The Afghan government, furious that assurances from the Americans that the Taliban would not use the Doha office for political or fund-raising purposes had been flouted, suspended bilateral security talks with the Americans earlier Wednesday and said they would not send their peace emissaries to Qatar to talk to the Taliban until there was a change. Mr. Karzai reacted in fury after an apparent diplomatic breakthrough on Tuesday — the opening of a Taliban peace office in Qatar — instead became a publicity coup for the Taliban. In televised images that horrified many Afghans, the Taliban introduced what appeared to be an embassy, raising their flag, speaking in front of a sign declaring the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” the name of their former government and seeking international exposure.
American officials, worried that painstaking efforts to restart the peace process after 18 months of deadlock were crumbling right at a breakthrough moment, moved quickly to try to resolve the Afghan government’s objections to what increasingly appeared to be a publicity coup by the Taliban. First, Mr. Karzai broke off long-term security talks with the United States, accusing the Americans of failing to deliver on promises to keep the Taliban from grandstanding. Soon after, his office announced that the government delegation would stay away from the talks until the insurgents removed their symbolic displays of being an alternative government.
Afghans of nearly every political stripe expressed outrage and concern at widely broadcast news images of insurgent envoys raising the white Taliban flag from their days in power and speaking as if they had set up an embassy for a government in exile — including raising a sign that described the office as the political office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the formal name of the old Taliban government. Qatari-based news organizations, including Al Jazeera, later broadcast several interviews with the envoys making their case for international attention. The president’s gambit appeared to work: In a turbulent 24 hours of nonstop diplomatic moves, Secretary of State John Kerry called Mr. Karzai three times and successfully pushed the Qatari government to get the Taliban to take down the sign and flag, American and Afghan officials said.
Hours after President Hamid Karzai canceled talks with the Americans over a post-2014 security agreement, accusing the Americans of saying one thing and doing another, and then boycotting the Qatar peace talks, his spokesman said that he had received assurances from Secretary of State John Kerry that the Taliban office would be curbed. “The office must not be treated as or represent itself as an embassy or other office representing the Afghan Taliban as an emirate government or sovereign,” said the State Department spokeswoman, Jennifer R. Psaki.
The State Department spokeswoman, Jennifer R. Psaki, confirmed that, saying that Mr. Kerry had spoken twice with Mr. Karzai, on Tuesday night and again on Wednesday. However, there was much to repair from the events of the past two days, and many Afghan political figures expressed a sense of having been betrayed by both the Americans and the Taliban.
Mr. Kerry told him that Qatar’s government had assured that the Taliban’s office in the capital, Doha, had removed the Islamic Emirate sign. “The office must not be treated as or represent itself as an embassy or other office representing the Afghan Taliban as an emirate government or sovereign,” she said. Through it all, Mr. Karzai again showed his willingness to halt American initiatives unilaterally when his allies displeased him, as he did earlier this year in forcing them to hand over detention operations and banning American Special Operations forces from a strategic district.
However there was much to repair from the events of the last two days, and the Afghans said they felt betrayed by their American allies and by the Taliban.  However, the American response was much faster and complied unambiguously with Mr. Karzai’s demands this time, in part because they struck directly at two of the most critical parts of the Obama administration’s long-term vision for Afghanistan: entering peace talks with the Taliban to help curb the insurgency as Western troops withdraw and reaching an agreement to allow a lasting American military force past 2014.
In lashing out, Mr. Karzai again showed his willingness to unilaterally halt American initiatives when his allies displeased him, after reining in American detention operations and Special Operations missions earlier this year. It struck directly at two of the most critical parts of the Obama administration’s long-term vision for Afghanistan: entering peace talks with the Taliban to help dampen the insurgency as Western troops withdraw, and reaching an agreement to allow a lasting American military force past 2014. At the same time, it became increasingly apparent that the Taliban, at little cost in binding promises or capital, were seizing the peace process as a stage for publicity and giving the Americans a stark lesson in the complications that could be posed by the diplomatic overtures.
At the same time, it became increasingly apparent that the Taliban, at little cost in binding promises or capital, were seizing the peace process as a stage for publicity. The rapid-fire developments Wednesday came a day after the American military formally handed over control of security in all of Afghanistan to Afghan forces, followed hours later with the three sides’ announcement that peace talks would begin in Doha.
The rapid-fire developments on Wednesday came a day after the American military formally handed over control of security in all of Afghanistan to Afghan forces, a development that was followed hours later with the three sides’ announcement that peace talks would begin in Doha.
The opening was hailed by American officials as a breakthrough after 18 months of stalled peace efforts, though they cautioned that a long road remained ahead.The opening was hailed by American officials as a breakthrough after 18 months of stalled peace efforts, though they cautioned that a long road remained ahead.
Meanwhile, the Taliban played to the cameras.Meanwhile, the Taliban played to the cameras.
Opening their Doha office with a lavish ceremony that included a ribbon-cutting and the playing of the Taliban anthem, insurgent officials said they intended to use the site to meet with representatives of the international community and the United Nations, interact with the news media, “improve relations with countries around the world” and, almost as an afterthought, meet “Afghans if there is a need.” They did not mention the Afghan government. The insurgents opened their Doha office with a lavish ceremony that included a ribbon-cutting and the playing of the Taliban anthem, with the Qatari deputy foreign minister in attendance. The Taliban said they intended to use the site to meet with representatives of the international community and the United Nations, to interact with the news media, “improve relations with countries around the world” and, almost as an afterthought, meet “Afghans if there is a need.” They did not mention the Afghan government.
Some of the other language the Taliban used closely followed the American framework for peace talks. The insurgents seemed to agree to distance themselves from Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, saying the Taliban’s aims were only within Afghanistan and that they did not support the use of Afghan soil to plot international attacks. Some of the other language the Taliban used closely followed the American framework for peace talks. The insurgents appeared to agree — as they have in the past — to distance themselves from Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, saying the Taliban’s aims were only within Afghanistan and that they did not support the use of Afghan soil to plot international attacks.
In one move, showing a sudden and surprising willingness to open an office after months of resistance, the insurgents could appear to accede to an exhaustive international effort to start peace talks, even while using Qatari territory — and its globally reaching news outlets — in a new bid for acceptance as a political force.  Still, it was the insurgent presentation of themselves as a government that angered Afghan officials, and they clearly felt they were being sidelined in the peace process. Indeed, Afghan officials had been worried enough that the Taliban might act out that they had demanded, and received, a letter from President Obama guaranteeing that the office would not look like an embassy and confer legitimacy, said Aimal Faizi, the Afghan president’s spokesman. 
“The way the Taliban office was opened in Qatar and the messages which were sent from it was in absolute contrast with all the guarantees that the United States of America had pledged,” said the statement from President Karzai’s office. The White House would not confirm or deny the letter. But an administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that Mr. Obama had sent one offering such assurances.
The statement also seemed to lump in Qatar, for its active role in facilitating the Taliban office, with the United States. “Recent developments showed that there are foreign hands behind the opening of the Taliban office in Qatar. Unless the peace process is led by Afghans, the High Peace Council will not participate in the Qatar negotiations,” the statement said, referring to a body Mr. Karzai established in 2010 during earlier peace efforts. Later Wednesday, at the comfortable new villa housing the Taliban office in the West Bay district of Doha, evidence of the American diplomatic scramble could be seen: the white Taliban flag and the Islamic emirate sign had both been taken down. And Qatari police forces were stationed outside.
“The Taliban cannot call themselves an Islamic emirate,” said Aminuddin Mozafari, a member of the High Peace Council and a former mujahedeen commander who fought the Russians. “They are just a group of insurgents with no legal status.” But one former Afghan official in Doha, an adviser to Burhanuddin Rabbani, the Afghan government peace envoy killed in 2011 by a Taliban assassin, said the insurgents had already won an important battle.
American officials said the Taliban overture was relatively sudden, initially signaled by Qatari officials toward the end of May. The timing, too, offered some surprise. Taliban forces in Afghanistan had been stepping up their attacks as summer neared, bloodying Afghan Army and police forces who have been taking the lead in security operations as American troops stepped back to a support role. “Through those pictures of the Taliban flag waving in the air and the banner on the office, it took people to see two countries, two flags, two legitimacies. The damage is already done,” he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of concerns for his safety.
Almost as a reminder that the Taliban, too, could borrow a page from the “fight and talk” American road map for diplomacy in Afghanistan, insurgents struck within hours of the Doha office opening. Insurgents tripped a deadly ambush on an American convoy near the Bagram Air Base north of the Afghan capital, killing four American soldiers, Afghan officials said. As for the Taliban office, he said he expected it would remain open, and that that had been the aim of the Taliban all along. “One of the reasons they did it was to rehabilitate the Taliban, to make them palatable enough for elections,” he said.

Steven Lee Myers contributed reporting from Washington, and Sangar Rahimi, Sharifullah Sahak, and Habib Zahori from Kabul.

American officials said the initial discussions with the Taliban that had been planned for Thursday in Doha had been called off. But some American officials had traveled to Qatar, and officials expressed hope that after the scramble on Wednesday, the talks could be resumed soon with the Afghan government delegation taking part as well.
In describing the Taliban’s initial overture, American officials said it as relatively sudden, signaled by Qatari officials toward the end of May. That timing, too, was surprising: Taliban forces in Afghanistan had been stepping up their attacks as summer neared, bloodying Afghan Army and police forces who have been taking the lead in security operations as American troops stepped back to a support role.
Almost as a reminder that the Taliban, too, could borrow a page from the “fight and talk” American road map in Afghanistan, insurgents struck within hours of the Doha office opening. Militants tripped a deadly ambush on an American convoy near the Bagram Air Base north of the Afghan capital, killing four American soldiers, Afghan officials said.

Alissa J. Rubin reported from Kabul, and Rod Nordland from Doha, Qatar. Reporting was contributed by Steven Lee Myers and Mark Landler from Washington, and Sangar Rahimi, Sharifullah Sahak and Habib Zahori from Kabul.