An Afghan Taliban official on Tuesday said they were temporarily closing their Qatar office to protest against the demand that they remove their official flag and a sign that identified the movement as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
The office was opened less than a month ago to facilitate peace talks, and has also come under pressure for using the same white flag flown during the Taliban’s five-year rule of Afghanistan that ended with the US-led invasion in 2001.
Both officials, familiar with the peace talks in the GulfState of Qatar Tuesday said the office had been temporarily abandoned. They requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has protested against the name and flag.