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The article discusses the effectiveness of a peace envoy of emissaries from the Taliban fundamentalist organization that was sent to Qatar in order to negotiate a peace deal related to the Afghan war in 2010. Topics addressed include a lack of negotiations between the Taliban and American and Afghan diplomats, and discussions of the possible release of Taliban and American prisoners.

The article reports on the complete removal of the flag and flagpole Taliban in Qatar, that had led the Afghan delegations to boycott negotiations, but whether the change would push Afghanistan to Qatar for the peace talks is still in question.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- President Hamid Karzai said Wednesday in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that his representatives had begun talks with the Taliban and the American government, a potentially significant development suggesting that the Taliban were dropping longstanding objections to face-to-face discussions with the Afghan government. A member of the Afghan High Peace Council also described the recent Afghan government contacts to The New York Times this week and said that there had been an agreement with Taliban representatives to go ahead with peace talks in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar, but there was no date yet for meetings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Several Taliban negotiators have begun meeting with American officials in Qatar, where they are discussing preliminary trust-building measures, including a possible prisoner transfer, several former Taliban officials said Saturday. The former officials said that four to eight Taliban representatives had traveled to Qatar from Pakistan to set up a political office for the exiled Afghan insurgent group. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]