Afghan President Hamid Karzai Wednesday broke off crucial security talks with the United States, angry over the name given to a new Taliban office in Qatar that is meant to facilitate peace negotiations.
The ongoing Afghan-US talks must reach an agreement if Washington is to maintain troops in Afghanistan after the Nato combat mission ends next year.
Mr Karzai’s decision to suspend the talks threatens to wreck US efforts to start a dialogue with the Taliban, which President Barack Obama had welcomed as an important step towards ending 12 years of war.
The prospect of peace received a further reality check on Wednesday when the Taliban claimed an overnight rocket attack that killed four US troops.
Explaining the suspension, Mr Karzai’s spokesman Aimal Faizi said: “There is a contradiction between what the US government says and what it does.”