Negotiators from the Taliban and the United States are scheduled to meet today, Wednesday, in the Qatari capital, Doha, for a new round of talks. For his part, Afghan President Muhammad Ashraf Ghani welcomed what he described as the tangible progress in the ongoing peace talks between the two sides.
Afghan sources told the island that the meeting might lead to the announcement of an agreement to reduce violence between Taliban militants and US forces in Afghanistan, as a first step towards signing a final peace agreement between the two parties.
Meanwhile, the Afghan president said - after a phone call he received last night from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - that the government will manage the next steps in a way that positively supports the overall peace process.
Ghani said - in a tweet on Twitter - that Pompeo also told him that the Taliban had made a proposal "related to a significant and sustained reduction in violence."
US President Donald Trump has made the withdrawal of his country's 13,000 troops from Afghanistan one of the main goals of his foreign policy, and reaching an agreement with the Taliban on the withdrawal of these forces could enhance the chances of re-election in November.