The Taliban must renounce violence in order for there to be reconciliation between the group and the government of Afghanistan, U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday. Obama met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the Oval Office at the White House, and the two held a joint press conference following the meeting. “Ultimately, security gains must be matched by political progress, so we recommitted our nations to a reconciliation process between the Afghan government and the Taliban," Obama said at the press conference. `“President Karzai updated me on the Afghan government's road map to peace, and today we agreed that this process should be advanced by the opening of a Taliban office to facilitate talks." “It is not possible to reconcile without the Taliban renouncing terrorism, without them recognizing the Afghan Constitution and recognizing that if there are changes that they want to make to how the Afghan government operates, then there is an orderly constitutional process to do that; that you can't resort to violence," Obama said. Karzai said he and Obama agreed on allowing the Taliban to have an office in Qatar in order to proceed with direct talks. The office will be “where the Taliban will engage in direct talks with the representatives of the Afghan High Council for Peace, where we will be seeking the help of relevant regional countries, including Pakistan; where we'll be trying our best, together with the United States and our other allies, to return peace and stability to Afghanistan as soon as possible," Karzai said.
