US official: Taliban ignoring talks overtures

(AP) US official: Taliban ignoring talks overtures
By MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
A senior U.S. official says the Taliban won’t join talks with the United States because of a dispute over the name of its office in Qatar.

The official said Wednesday the Taliban never replied to an offer to meet U.S. diplomats in Doha on June 23. He said that’s because the Taliban insist their facility be called the “Political Office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” and be identified as such on an exterior sign.

The United States and Afghanistan objected to the name and the sign when the office first opened. Qatari mediators got the Taliban to remove them but the official said the group now insists they be replaced. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak by name about the matter.