Afghan peace negotiators have told Sky News they have no intention of attending talks with the Taliban in Qatar.
A spokesman said: "Taliban are not interested in peace, (their) only intention is in becoming the government again."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai had already cancelled a peace delegation to the security talks due to take place in Doha between the US and the Taliban.
Mr Karzai had been angered by a move by the Taliban to cast its new office in the Gulf nation of Qatar as a rival embassy.
The Qatari government insisted that a sign suggesting it was an embassy was removed, a move welcomed by the Americans.
But the negotiators say that Taliban officials removing the flag and sign was not enough to undo the damage done when they opened the office and have now confirmed they will not be attending the talks.
Sky Foreign Affairs Correspondent Lisa Holland said: "It's something the Afghan government are furious about.
"They feel they've been sidelined. The situation's been made even worse by the fact the Taliban were allowed to open an office here (in Doha).
"The Afghan government say the Taliban have been allowed to look like a government in exile."
The Taliban has said it does not recognise the government of Mr Karzai.
It's representatives held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday at which they hoisted their flag and a banner with the name they used while in power more than a decade ago: "Political Office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan."
The security talks are an ongoing discussion about the shape of a small international "back-up" force to stay in Afghanistan once combat troops have left at the end of next year.
The US has dropped its pre-condition for talks that the Taliban must ends its links to al Qaeda. That is likely to be part of an initial declaration of agendas between the two sides.
US officials say the first meeting will be about laying out each others' positions then they will go away and meet again in a few weeks.
Ahead of the talks a Taliban spokesman said the group was ready to free US soldier Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, who has been held captive in Afghanistan since 2009, in exchange for five Guantanamo Bay inmates.
Taliban spokesman Shaheen Suhail told the Associated Press that Sgt Bergdahl "is, as far as I know, in good condition".
He said the prisoner exchange was the first item on the Taliban's agenda before even opening the peace talks.
Meanwhile, Taliban fighters in Afghanistan hailed the rebels' new office in Qatar as evidence of their success on the front lines.
Mullah Ehsanullah, a local Taliban fighter in the Zherai district of Kandahar province, spoke to AFP news agency by telephone.
He said: "With the establishment of this office, we want to hold talks with the international community like an independent and sovereign state.
"We are reaching our goals in defeating the US, now we want to free our country from occupation. We want to build our country on our own."
The Taliban was in government in Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001 when they were ousted from power sparking a 12-year conflict.
There are currently around 100,000 coalition troops in Afghanistan from 48 countries. They are due to leave within 18 months.
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