US troops should leave Afghanistan soon: Taliban

Moscow: Closing two days of Intra-Afghan peace talks in Moscow on Wednesday, the Taliban delegation restated their call for the immediate withdrawal of all American troops from Afghanistan.

"We are in negotiations with the American side and we are trying that the American forces should go out as soon as possible," Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, leader of the Taliban delegation, told reporters after the talks ended.

Stanikzai, however, could not say when exactly the withdrawal would happen.

"The timeline is not fixed so far, and it is not agreed upon but we are negotiating this," he said, contradicting earlier comments by his deputy that the withdrawal would be completed by the end of April.

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said there was "almost no opposition" to the nine point statement concluding statement released on Wednesday, and that he was happy with the outcome of the meeting.

The meetings have been seen as another step in a process aimed at resolving Afghanistan's 17-year war, one that has accelerated since the appointment of US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad last year.

The meeting brings together Taliban representatives and Afghan figures including Karzai, opposition leaders and tribal elders — but not Kabul government officials.

The meeting has side-lined Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's government, which has criticised the gathering.