Talks between the United States and the Taliban have reached a critical stage, Afghanistan’s Second Vice President Sarwar Danish said on Tuesday.
The sides have held eight rounds of talks in Qatar since last year. The latest round ended on Monday.
In a meeting, Danish said that the talks have reached a critical stage and that intra-Afghan talks would begin in the future, according to a statement released by his office.
A previous version of the statement had said that the talks between the sides had been completed and that talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban would resume after the upcoming presidential election, scheduled for September 28.
Danish said that the US and the Taliban have discussed only issues related to them, not issues such as political system of the country and constitution.
The US-Taliban talks have focused on counter-terrorism assurances and troop withdrawal.
During their latest meeting, the US demanded that the Taliban announce a ceasefire and start direct talks with the Kabul government, a Taliban official said as quoted by Reuters.
The Taliban have refused to announce ceasefire and negotiate with Kabul government.
