'SEPARATE AGREEMENT'
The militants now control more territory than they have since 2001 and the war has ground into a stalemate with casualties rising among civilians as well as combatants.
Some 14,000 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, training and advising Afghan forces and conducting counterinsurgency operations. Some 6,000 troops from NATO allies and partner countries also help train Afghan forces.
There has been no let-up in the fighting over the past year despite the talks. The United States had not stopped conducting air strikes and helping Afghan forces to destroy camps run by the Taliban and Daesh terrorists, a U.S. official said.
Two diplomatic sources with knowledge of the ninth round of talks in Qatar said they expected an agreement to be finalised this week, enabling the U.S. to pull out about 50% of its forces.
An end to the fighting between the Taliban ad Afghan government forces would have to be negotiated separately, they said.
"A ceasefire between the Afghan forces and the Taliban requires a separate agreement and deliberations are yet to begin," said one diplomat who has been monitoring the negotiations in Qatar.
"The U.S.-Taliban agreement will stop U.S. from conducting air strikes on the Taliban, and the Taliban will stop insider attacks on the U.S. and other foreign soldiers," the diplomat said.
Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban political office in Doha, said negotiations have gone on late into Sunday.
The two sides would meet again later on Monday after internal talks in the morning, Shaheen said.
"Our meeting with the U.S. team will resume in the early evening," he said.
Most issues had been resolved but a formal agreement had yet to be concluded, he said.
