Afghan President briefed by US officials on peace talks with Taliban

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has received top US and NATO representatives in Kabul and was briefed about the ongoing peace negotiations with the Taliban, presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Sunday.

"Yesterday, President Ghani met with Ross Wilson, Charge d'Affaires of the US Embassy in Afghanistan, and General Scott Miller, Commander of the NATO Resolute Support mission. At the meeting, General Scott Miller briefed President Ghani on his trip to Qatar last week," Sediqqi said in a tweet that was accompanied by a photograph of the meeting.

According to Sediqqi, Miller also informed the President of a possible upcoming visit from US Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, in the event of progress in negotiations with the Taliban.

"General Miller said that talks between Zalmay Khalilzad, the Special Representative of the US State Department and the Taliban are going on and in the event of any progress, Khalilzad will travel to Kabul and present information to the Afghan government," the spokesperson added.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen had earlier this week had said that Khalilzad and Miller held talks with senior Taliban officials in Doha, where the movement maintains a political office.

Last week, in an interview with Pakistani newspaper 'Dawn', Shaheen said that the US was close to signing a peace deal with the Taliban in January itself. He also said that the sides had already agreed to reduce "military operations".

Since 2018, Washington and the Taliban have been attempting to negotiate a peace deal that would ensure the withdrawal of foreign troops in exchange for the movement's guarantee that the country would not become a safe haven for terrorists.

Last September, US President Donald Trump called off the talks with the group after a US service member was killed in an attack in Afghanistan. However, Trump announced the resumption of the negotiations in late November during his visit to Afghanistan.