Taliban militants meeting Afghan officials in Qatar reiterated their hardline stance on peace talks today, ruling out negotiations until US forces leave the country and the insurgents are allowed to open a political office.
A 20-member Afghan delegation over the weekend launched two days of "open discussion" with Taliban representatives in the Gulf emirate in their latest attempt to end Afghanistan's long war.
The militants emphasised their preconditions for negotiations in a statement read out by their representatives at the meeting and posted on the Taliban's official website.
"One of the main external obstacle (to talks) is the occupation of our country by Americans... Continuing the occupation will mean continuing the war," the statement said.
"The mother of all these miseries is their invasion, which should end as a first step toward a peace dialogue between Afghans."
The statement came as a Taliban suicide bomber struck a government bus in Kabul today, killing one civilian and wounding 15 others in the latest attack in the annual "spring offensive".
The insurgents also said they needed to set up a political office for any peace negotiations and demanded that their leaders be removed from a US "blacklist".
"For talks, an office and an address is needed. The Islamic Emirate does not have an address for peace talks," the Taliban said, using their official name.
"We need an office to issue statements on peace and answer questions. If there is an office... Baseless and biased accusations will be prevented."
Previous efforts to open dialogue with the Taliban have failed.
The Taliban opened an office in Qatar in June 2013 as a first move towards a possible peace deal. But it shut a month later after enraging the then-Afghan president Hamid Karzai by styling itself as the unofficial embassy for a government-in-exile.
The election last year of President Ashraf Ghani, who pledged to make peace talks a priority, as well as supportive signals from the militants' erstwhile backer Pakistan, has raised hopes of dialogue.
