Taliban office, plot to break up Afghanistan: Karzai aide
KABUL, Kaboul, July 18, 2013 (AFP) - The Taliban office in Doha was a plot to break up Afghanistan orchestrated by either Pakistan or the United States, a top aide to the Afghan president has said.
Hamid Karzai's chief of staff said Kabul was concerned about growing closeness between Pakistan and the United States, and that there was still a huge rift with Washington despite top-level efforts to patch up the disastrous fall-out over the office.The remarks from someone so close to Karzai cast a spotlight on the depth of distrust between Kabul and Washington and between Kabul and Islamabad. They are also likely to play havoc with already troublesome efforts to find a peace deal to end 12 years of Taliban fighting.
“The opening of the Qatar office, the way it happened was a plot and Afghanistan foiled that plot and this plot was aimed at splitting or breaking up Afghanistan,” Karim Khorram told local 1TV in an interview, the recording of which was obtained by AFP.
Khorram is one of Karzai's closest advisors and considered a key member of a more conservative faction around the Afghan president, deeply distrustful of both Pakistan and the United States.
The Taliban said earlier this month that it had temporarily closed their office in Qatar, blameing “broken promises” by the Afghan government and United States.