- File Photo

WASHINGTON: The White House and the State Department welcomed on Tuesday a decision to open a Taliban political office in Qatar, saying that it would provide an address for negotiations with the insurgents Washington has been fighting for more than a decade.

“We welcome any step along the road of the Afghan-led process towards reconciliation, mindful of the fact that the standards for reconciliation have not changed, and the conditions, rather, that insurgents who are willing to lay down their arms and reconcile, must meet in order to be accepted by the Afghan government and by us,” said Press Secretary Jay Carney when asked if the White House saw this as a positive development.

When a journalist reminded him that the Taliban were not only opening up an office in Qatar but were also demanding the release of Taliban prisoners held in Guantanamo, Mr Carney noted that President Barack Obama said in June that peace could not come to Afghanistan without a political settlement and in his famous West Point speech, Mr Obama also made clear that the US would support and participate in any Afghan-led reconciliation efforts.

“And we’ve always said that Taliban reconciliation would only come on the condition of breaking from Al Qaeda, abandoning violence, and abiding by the Afghan constitution, and that remains the case. And this is about US support for an Afghan-lead process,” he said.

“As far as releasing Afghan prisoners, we’re not in a position to discuss ongoing deliberations or individual detainees, but our goal of closing Guantanamo is well established and widely understood.”

Earlier Tuesday, the Taliban made their first public reaction to media reports that they were opening a political office in Qatar.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, confirmed that they had struck a deal to open a political office in Qatar for peace negotiations.

The step was a sharp reversal of the Taliban’s longstanding public denials that it was involved or interested in any talks to end its insurgency in Afghanistan, and a major step to revive a reconciliation effort that stalled in September, with the assassination of the head of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council.

Mr Mujahid, also demanded that Taliban detainees held at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay be released. Early last month, the Afghan government recalled its ambassador to Qatar for consultations over reports that the Taliban was planning to open an office there.

President Hamid Karzai, however, backed down last week, saying his government would accept the Qatar office to hold peace talks, although Saudi Arabia or Turkey would be preferable venues.

The issue was discussed at some length at the US State Department where spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters that the United States supported negotiations with the Taliban because it believed that “you don’t negotiate with your friends”.

“If this is part of an Afghan-led, Afghan-supported process, and the Afghan government itself believes it can play a constructive role and it is also supported by the host country, then we will play a role in that, as well,” she said.