Doha (AFP)

The United States and the Afghan Taliban resumed their talks in Doha on Saturday, an American source reported, with the goal of reaching an agreement that would allow the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan after 18 years of conflict.

"Negotiations have resumed this afternoon," an unnamed source from the US, whose 9th cycle began on Thursday, said on condition of anonymity.

Talks between Americans and Afghan insurgents were to resume on Friday, but "both parties decided to postpone them until Saturday," Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said, citing "other commitments."

"We made (Thursday) progress and now discuss the mechanism of implementation (of an agreement) and some technical points," he told AFP.

"The agreement will be reached when we agree on these points," he added.

He will be introduced to the media and to representatives of neighboring countries of Afghanistan, China, Russia and the United Nations, he said.

The hoped-for deal should provide for the withdrawal of more than 13,000 US troops from Afghanistan, with a timetable to the key. This is the main demand of the Taliban, who would in return commit that the territories they control can no longer be used by "terrorist" organizations.

A cease-fire between insurgents and Americans, or at least a "reduction of violence", should also be included in the text, which would be historic 18 years after the United States' invasion of Afghanistan for to drive the Taliban out of power in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Washington hopes to conclude a peace deal with the Taliban by September 1, ahead of the Afghan elections scheduled for the same month and the US presidential election in 2020.

The Taliban said on Saturday it killed seven members of the US military in an attack on a convoy near Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul.

Colonel Sonny Leggett, a spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan, said businesses had been damaged by the attack but denied that there were casualties among US or coalition soldiers.

"Rather than take responsibility and apologize for the harm they are doing to innocent Afghans and their businesses, the Taliban are spreading lies about the attack," Leggett told AFP.

Two US soldiers were killed on Wednesday by small arms fire in northern Faryab province, the Pentagon reported.

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