Afghanistan's Taliban suspend talks with US

The US had been trying to set up a dialogue with the Taliban in the Gulf state for some time.

Meanwhile, President Hamid Karzai has called for Nato-led forces to move out of Afghan villages and rural areas after a US soldier killed 16 civilians.

He told the visiting US defence secretary Afghan troops should take the lead for nationwide security in 2013.

In a statement, the Taliban said they were suspending the talks because of "the shaky, erratic and vague standpoint of the Americans".

They said the US kept changing the terms of negotiations aimed at setting up a political office in Qatar and on a prisoner exchange.

It was thought that a deal to exchange five Taliban fighters currently held at Guantanamo Bay for a kidnapped American soldier was only weeks away, says the BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Kabul.

This is a significant setback for tentative efforts to begin peace talks with the insurgents, our correspondent adds.

US diplomatic sources say the Taliban were told by US negotiators that the Afghan government had to be a part of any negotiations.

That appears to have been unacceptable to the insurgents who regard President Karzai's government as illegitimate, our correspondent adds.