Afghan political leaders on Monday called for President Hamid Karzai to be transparent about his two-day visit to Qatar and, specifically, the outcome of talks on the Taliban office and peace deals.
Karzai returned to Kabul on Sunday night after two days in the Gulf nation where he met with Qatari government officials and business owners ahead of plans to open a political office for the Taliban in Doha, the nation's capital.
"The peace process and dealing with the Taliban is a very important thing for Afghanistan, so it should be discussed with the people, parliament, civil society and the political parties. The president cannot make these decisions himself," said Moeen Marastiyal, member of Truth and Justice Party.
Some of the parties' members suggested that the government was hiding its plans for dealing with the Taliban.
"Nowadays, the government has lost its way against the Taliban. We are concerned about the day when the Taliban come to negotiate and the government will not have any way to negotiate. We think that suggesting privileges to the Taliban is a sign of the government's weakness," member of National Coalition party Mohammad Asim said.
Karzai did not officially meet with any Taliban negotiators during the trip, despite reports last week in the Qatari media that the insurgent group was sending "moderate" envoys to negotiate.
On Sunday, Karzai met with Qatar's emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and discussed "bilateral cooperation in different areas including the Afghan peace process and Qatari investments in Afghanistan," according to a statement from Karzai's office, but it did not elaborate.
TOLOnews' requests for comment from the presidential office on the Qatar trip were not responded to on Monday.
The trip comes amid heightened tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan over their relationship with the insurgents. Both countries have recently accused the other of supporting the Taliban insurgency in some form in order to foment unrest in the neighbouring country.
Karzai's spokesman said last week that the Pakistan had abandoned the peace process and imposed "impossible" pre-conditions on any further discussions including asking Afghanistan to cut ties with India. Pakistan rejected the statement and reiterated its commitment to the peace process.
Meanwhile, a report was released citing Pakistan's intelligence agency accusing the Afghan government of supporting elements of the Taliban.
The Afghan government has been pushing hard to get the Taliban to negotiate a peace deal before the end of 2014, but the Taliban has consistently refused to talk with the Karzai regime, referring to it as a puppet government.