New round of US-Taliban talks to start in Qatar

A new round of peace talks between the Taliban and the US starts Wednesday in Qatar, an official for the insurgents said, as the foes seek an end of America's longest war.

“We are expecting the meeting to start in the next two hours as the U.S. delegation has already arrived,”  Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban told Reuters.

U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has earlier acknowledged that both sides had drafted a preliminary agreement on how and when U.S.-led foreign troops will withdraw from Afghanistan in return for insurgent assurances that hardline militant groups will not be allowed to again use Afghanistan to attack other nations.