Direct negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban may take place outside the country through official processes, including creation of the rebel movement’s office in Qatar, the Afghan Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
A statement from the ministry rejected as incorrect, media reports that Kabul supported consultative meetings on the peace process that took place outside the country in the absence of coordination with the government.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterates that any intra-Afghan consultative meetings related to the peace process must take place in agreement with the government of Afghanistan and inside Afghanistan,” the statement added.
Last week, representatives of the Afghan government, the Taliban and other factions held a three-day meeting in Chantilly near Paris to confer on the post-2014 situation in the country.
Participants of the informal session explored the possibility of changing the insurgency into a viable political opposition, the election law relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
President Hamid Karzai had accorded his tacit approval to the talks sponsored by the Foundation for Strategic Research. High Peace Council Secretary Masoom Stanikzai and Haji Din Muhammad represented the Afghan government.
