KABUL, June 19 (Reuters) - Afghanistan will stay out of peace talks between the United States and the Taliban until "foreign powers" allow the negotiations to be run by Afghans, President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday.
"As long as the peace process is not Afghan-led, the High Peace Council will not participate in the talks in Qatar," Karzai said in a statement, referring to a body he set up in 2010 to seek a negotiated peace with the Taliban.
Karzai also said the opening of a Taliban office in Qatar showed the United States had failed to honour promises made to the Afghan state about the role of that office. (Reporting by Hamid Shalizi and Mirwais Harooni; Writing by Dylan Welch; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.