President Karzai’s Qatar visit has apparently assured guarantees of Qatari Amir that the Taliban office will only be used for the purpose of peace talks, not a center for fund-raising or other political aims.

According to officials, Kabul and Doha have agreed that those who are ready to take part in peace talks should be granted immunity. After return from Doha, the President met High Peace Council members who will inaugurate the office.

It seems the President’s visit has been successful in the sense that it achieved official guarantee from the Qatari leadership about transparency of the Taliban office. Following the visit, Doha is to open an embassy in Kabul. Previously due to the unilateral moves of the Qatari officials in hosting Taliban representatives, Kabul had called back its ambassador to Doha in protest and showed displeasure for being left out. Now with an official agreement and guarantee, it has been a win for the Government and HPC to keep its leverage on the peace process.

However, Taliban representatives in Doha and those who had participated in intra-Afghan meetings in Chantilly had said the HPC in its current form cannot be taken serious. They have always denied any possibility to hold talks with the Government.

Now that the HPC will inaugurate the ‘office for Taliban’, it surely will provoke their reaction to reject talks with Government officials. Taliban consider the HPC as a Government body. If the Government wants serious progress, they should review the current exclusive structure and process.

Given the fact that all hopes for Pakistan’s role to persuade Taliban leadership to take part in talks have gone in vain with official frustration between Kabul and Islamabad already in media, a stronger rejection of talks should be expected from Taliban now.

The Presidential office and Foreign Ministry have said that Kabul will carry the peace efforts with Taliban alone, without Islamabad’s support, as Pakistan has abandoned the process, with preconditions impossible to meet.

In such a scenario, there could be a faction of the Taliban or some former leaders would join the peace talks and business would be as usual with insurgency—something that this newspaper has been saying since President Karzai launched his peace talk efforts after starting second term in office.

In between the last several years, the Government has lost its popular support among the major anti-Taliban constituency mostly in political opposition, and has further antagonized the international community. The future still remains uncertain.