Taliban strike deal with Qatar on office there

Taliban strike deal with Qatar on office there

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan Taliban said today that they have reached a preliminary deal with the Gulf state of Qatar to open a liaison office there, in what could be a step toward formal, substantive peace talks to end more than a decade of war. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid indicated the liaison office will conduct negotiations with the international community but not with the Afghan government — a condition that President Hamid Karzai has indicated he would reject. Mujahid did not say when it would open.