The United States was forced to backtrack after widely publicizing that it was going to enter into its first direct talks with a jihadist entity. The Obama administration's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan was reportedly en route to Doha to meet with the representatives of Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar in the group's political bureau, which was inaugurated June 18 by Qatar's deputy foreign minister. The State Department then announced late June 19 that no such meeting was scheduled. On the morning of June 20, there were reports that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry telephoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai, assuring him that the Taliban flag had been removed from the newly opened office and that the sign on the building reading "The Political Bureau of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in Doha" would be replaced by one simply reading "Bureau of Peace Talks.