Karzai is Prepared To Join Taliban Peace Talks

Had said he would boycott

The Afghan government has signaled it might join talks with the Taliban a day after President Hamid Karzai said he would boycott any peace talks unless they were led by his government, a government spokesman told AP news agency.

Fayeq Wahidi said on Thursday that the Afghan president was willing to participate in the talks to be held in the Qatari capital, Doha, if the US followed through with promises, he said were made by Secretary of State John Kerry in a phone call to Karzai.

The talks were thrown into disarray when Karzai canceled a planned delegation to the newly opened Taliban office in Doha because he said the US broke commitments that the office would not be seen as an embassy or government-in-exile.