The Afghan Taliban say they have reached a preliminary deal with the Gulf state of Qatar to open a liaison office there that could have a key role in peace talks to end more than a decade of war.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the liaison office will conduct negotiations with the international community. He did not say when it would open.
Mujahid’s statement says the Taliban held negotiations with Qatar’s government and other “relevant parties” about the office’s opening.
For the United States and its allies, the idea of a Taliban political office in Doha has become the central element in efforts to draw the insurgents into peace talks.
Afghanistan's high peace council said in late December Kabul would accept a Taliban liaison office in Qatar - although Saudi Arabia and Turkey were Afghanistan's preferred choices - but underlined that no foreign power could get involved in the negotiating process without its consent.
Senior US officials told Reuters late last month that, after 10 months of dialogue with the Taliban, talks had reached a critical juncture and they will soon know whether a breakthrough is possible.
As part of the accelerating, high-stakes diplomacy, the United States is considering the transfer of several high-profile Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay military prison into Afghan government custody.
Mujahid also called for the release of Taliban prisoners. "The Islamic Emirate has also asked for the release of the Guantanamo prisoners," the statement said, using the Afghan Taliban's own name for its movement.
Afghanistan's leaders have expressed concerns that any office be used only as an address to help negotiators verify the identity of anyone claiming to represent the Taliban, rather than as a base to build political clout.
The call for an address came after a series of failed efforts by Afghans and their Western allies, some of them with interlocutors who turned out to be frauds.
These culminated in the September, 2010, assassination of Mr Karzai's top peace envoy by a man accepted as a Taliban representative, which appeared to destroy the president's appetite for negotiations, but he has recently renewed his support.
Agencies