Taliban ‘expects US to announce’ date of troop withdrawal from Afghanistan at next round of talks

The Taliban expects Washington to announce the date of troop withdrawal from Afghanistan at the next round of talks, the movement’s spokesman Mohammad Sohail Shaheen said in Moscow on Thursday.

Setting the date for the withdrawal would create possibility for the settlement of the Afghan crisis, RIA Novosti quoted Shaheen as saying.

The negotiations are being held in Doha, Qatar. The latest round took place in March, and it is not known yet when the next one will be conducted.

Shaheen said that decent progress had been made at “successful negotiations” between Taliban and a group of senior Afghan politicians in Moscow. However, there had been no breakthrough in the bid to end 18 years of war, he said, adding that further talks would be needed, according to Reuters.