Iran Press/Asia: Zalmay Khalilzad wrote in a Twitter message on Saturday: "Both sides are set to reconvene the talks in two days."
The latest round of their negotiations took place in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar.
“There is still important work left to be done before we have an agreement,” The US special envoy noted.
The Afghan-born US diplomat, who has been negotiating since last year with the radical militant group – purportedly aimed at ending the 18-year US-led war in Afghanistan – further added that the current 'peace talks' will resume on Tuesday after an intra-Afghan dialogue, involving a group of Afghan delegates.
The two sides began a seventh round of the talks last week, aimed at forging a plan for the withdrawal of the US-led foreign military forces in exchange for guarantees by Taliban terrorists that international militant groups will not use Afghanistan as a base for launching attacks on the US and its allies.
According to PressTV, clarity on a final agreement on the timetable of foreign force pullout has been elusive so far, but in a sign of progress, the Taliban agreed on the sidelines of the current negotiations to hold separate talks with a group of Afghan representative not formally affiliated with the government in Kabul.
The political settlement with Taliban
Khalilzad reportedly intends to secure a political settlement with the Taliban, which has intensified its bombings and terror attacks in capital Kabul and elsewhere in the war-torn country in recent months and now controls more Afghan territory than at any time since being ousted by US-led forces in 2001.
The US special envoy further claimed – without elaborating -- that substantive progress had been made on all four parts of a peace deal: counter-terrorism assurances, troop withdrawal, participation in intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations, as well as a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire.
Presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan
This is while 20,000 US-led foreign troops, most of them American, remain in Afghanistan as part of a purported NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces, though some US troops are engaged in what American military officials describe as counter-terrorism operations.
The development came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a trip to Kabul last month that Washington was close to finishing a draft agreement with the Taliban terrorists on “counter-terrorism assurances,” expressing hopes that a peace deal could be reached by September 1.
Moreover, US media outlets cited anonymous 'Taliban officials' as saying last week that Washington was seeking up to 18 months to complete troop withdrawal from Afghanistan even as US President Donald Trump told Fox News earlier in the week that a withdrawal had already quietly begun and that troop strength had been cut to 9,000.
Meanwhile, US and Taliban negotiators further decided on Saturday to put the 'peace talks' on hold for two days, to allow for a meeting between rival Afghan groups to be held in Qatari capital of Doha, according to reports citing officials of the two sides. 203/211/201
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