KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban appear to have rejected the bold proposal by President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan to invite them for direct peace talks with the government. In an unsigned commentary published last week on their official website, the Taliban said, “The permission of peace and war are with the Americans ….” and claimed that their policy of wanting to “talk to American invaders about peace and stability rather than talking to their slave regime is now widely accepted by the independent Western analysts and other intellectuals.”

Instead of dealing with the Kabul government, the Taliban want to talk to the United States, which they see as the decisive actor on the battlefield. Even with the United States’ diminished direct combat role since 2015, American airstrikes and operations by American special forces pose the gravest danger to the Taliban.

Over years of interviews with Taliban fighters and leadership I have found that the narrative of the United States being the primary enemy unites them. In recent weeks, the Taliban too have called for peace talks but only with the United States.

Mr. Ghani’s proposal and his speech did not mention the potential withdrawal of American and other foreign forces from Afghanistan, which is a core demand of the Taliban. A declaration signed by the participants at the Kabul Process meeting on Feb. 28, at which Mr. Ghani made his offer, hinted at the possibility of discussing such a withdrawal. The Taliban leaders turned out to be skeptical of a proposal that did not address the issue up front.