AFGHANISTAN'S Taliban insurgents have suspended peace talks with the United States because of the "shaky, erratic and vague" US position.
US and Taliban negotiators were believed to have had preliminary contacts aimed at establishing an office for the Taliban in the Gulf state of Qatar to launch peace negotiations.
Even though substantial talks have yet to begin, the Taliban announcement will dent hopes of a negotiated settlement to the more than a decade-long war in the run-up to the withdrawal of foreign combat troops at the end of 2014.
The group said: "The Islamic Emirate has decided to suspend all talks with Americans taking place in Qatar from (Thursday) onwards until the Americans clarify their stance on the issues concerned and until they show willingness in carrying out their promises instead of wasting time."
The announcement came days after a US soldier was accused of slaughtering 16 Afghan civilians in the south.
Earlier, a senior US commander defended moving the soldier accused of the killings to a military detention centre in Kuwait, saying it would help ensure a proper investigation and trial.
Furious Afghan civilians and members of parliament have demanded the staff sergeant be tried in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, an Afghan man who emerged ablaze from a stolen pick-up truck as an aircraft carrying US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta landed at a base in Afghanistan on Wednesday has died from burns suffered in the incident.
The Afghan, a contractor who worked as a translator, had apparently tried to ram the truck into a group of US Marines standing on a runway ramp at Camp Bastion in Helmand province, US Lieutenant General Curtis Scaparrotti said.
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