(Adds Karzai, 2012 talks, Tayeb Agha)
DUBAI, June 18 (Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban plans to open an office in Qatar on Tuesday to help restart talks on ending the 12-year-old war, an Afghan diplomatic source in the Gulf Arab state told Reuters.
"There is a plan for the office to be open today," said the source. "This will help start the peace talks again."
In Kabul, President Hamid Karzai said earlier on Tuesday that Afghanistan would send representatives to Qatar soon to discuss peace with the Islamist insurgent group.
Karzai's announcement is the first significant step forward in the peace process, which has struggled to achieve results despite years of attempts.
A team of envoys from the Taliban flew to Qatar in early 2012 to open talks with the U.S. government. But the Taliban suspended the talks in March 2012, saying Washington was giving mixed signals on the nascent Afghan reconciliation process.
Among the most prominent members of the delegation in the Qatari capital Doha is Tayeb Agha, the former chief of staff to the Taliban's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar.
(Reporting by Amena Bakr, Editing by William Maclean and Janet Lawrence)
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