The Afghan Taliban said Tuesday it has reached an “initial agreement” to set up its first political overseas office in the Gulf state of Qatar.

The announcement came in an e-mailed statement from Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, in which the group also called for the release of prisoners held at the U.S.-run Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba.

The statement said the office would help the group “reach an understanding with the international community.” However, it made no mention of the Afghan government, which the Taliban has called a “puppet regime.”

Members of Afghanistan's High Peace Council welcomed the Taliban announcement.

The United States said Tuesday Taliban move to open a liaison office in Qatar “could play a positive role in ending the war in Afghanistan.”

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington did not receive formal notification of Taliban plans, but the Obama administration is willing to support the move if it is part of Afghan-led reconciliation. She stressed, however, that the new office will only make a difference if Taliban leaders meet the Afghan government's conditions for reconciliation.

Afghan officials originally had resisted the idea of a Taliban liaison office in Qatar, and the assassination of President Hamid Karzai's peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani in September appeared to seriously set back efforts to reach a peace deal.

But President Karzai later said his government would accept the liaison office. In December, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden also said the Afghan Taliban is not an enemy of America and does not represent a threat to the United States as long as it does not harbor al-Qaida terrorists.

Media reports have quoted U.S. officials as saying that Washington is open to negotiating a peace agreement with the Taliban, and that a possible deal could include the transfer of Taliban prisoners.

When asked why Washington would support talks with the group it went to war with following the terrorist attacks of 2001, Victoria Nuland quoted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's often-repeated response: “You do not negotiate with your friends.”

Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann told VOA Tuesday that Qatar represents a neutral place for the sides to meet, as it does not have the close traditional ties with Washington that Saudi Arabia and Turkey enjoy. Both of those countries had been named as the possible site for the Taliban liaison office.

The move to Qatar also takes the peace process away from Pakistan, which traditionally has had strong ties to Taliban leadership. Since the start of the war, Islamabad had offered to play a role in brokering peace.