The Taliban on Tuesday confirmed they had come to an "initial agreement" to open a political office overseas as part of peace talks with the United States. In a statement published on their purported website "Voice of Jihad", the Taliban said they had held "preliminary talks with relevant sides including Qatar" to open an office outside Afghanistan.
"We're now prepared, while having a strong presence inside (Afghanistan) to have a political office outside (Afghanistan) for negotiations," the statement said, reiterating the stance that all foreign troops must leave to end the war. The Taliban said one of their demands was for a prisoner exchange to include the release of inmates from Cuba's US-run detention facility Guantanamo Bay.
"The occupation of the country must be ended and Afghans must be allowed to create an Islamic government of their choice that be no harm to any one." The statement rejected some media reports that negotiations with the US had begun, but according to a source in Pakistan early discussions had been held last autumn in Qatar, between US diplomats and a small Taliban delegation led by Tayyeb Agha, the former secretary of Taliban leader Mullah Omar. The source said that Agha was the only Taliban official in direct contact with Mullah Omar.
Meanwhile, a senior member of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, the body charged with seeking a negotiated end to the country's decade-long war, said he welcomed the Taliban's decision, announced on Tuesday, to set up a political office in Qatar. "It is important for the Taliban to negotiate with the international community, especially with the US, and we welcome their decision to set up a political office," Arsala Rahmani, a top negotiator on the council, told Reuters. "It is a gesture of good faith. The Taliban are blacklisted by the US so it is very important for them to engage in talks with the US," he said.