Afghanistan’s president has disrupted plans for peace talks between America and the Taliban by threatening a boycott.
Hamid Karzai said he will not meet the Taliban unless the United States steps out of the negotiations and the militant group stops its violent attacks on the ground.
Mr Karzai is upset over the joint US and Taliban announcement that they would begin preliminary peace talks in Qatar without the Afghan government.
Mr Karzai said that his High Peace Council would “neither attend nor participate in the talks” until the process is “completely” in the hands of Afghans.
He earlier announced he had suspended talks with the US on a new security deal in protest of how the talks were announced.
He also says peace talks cannot begin amid “fighting and bloodshed.”
