Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has said his government will end peace talks with the Taliban, adding that efforts should focus instead on neighbouring Pakistan.

Karzai's comments came on the same day that Afghanistan's intelligence service claimed to have evidence that the assassination of Burhanuddin Rabbani, the former Afghan president and the government's peace negotiator, was planned by the Taliban council in the southern Pakistani city of Quetta.

Where do the two neighbours stand now? Is this a conceptual change to the whole exercise of peace talks, or an admission that Pakistan has the upper hand? And where does this put the battle for peace in Afghanistan?

Inside Story is joined by Ali Sarwar Naqvi, a former Pakistani diplomat; Omar Samad, the former spokesman of the Afghan foreign ministry and a former Afghan ambassador; and Jalal Rabbani, a consultant on Afghan affairs.