DOHA, Qatar — Afghan government officials plan to meet face-to-face with Taliban representatives for the first time since President Trump began peace negotiations last year, a sign that efforts to end the long war are gaining momentum, American diplomats said on Saturday.

The Afghan officials will be part of a delegation that also includes representatives of a cross-section of Afghan society, and the discussions are expected to run for two days on Sunday and Monday in the Gulf state of Qatar.

The meetings, organized by Qatar and Germany, are seen as an icebreaker that could eventually lead to direct negotiations between the Afghan rivals and to a peace deal that would end the costly 18-year American military presence in the country. Some 14,000 American troops remain in Afghanistan, and their continued presence there has become a political flash point in Washington.



The Americans and the Taliban are currently in their seventh round of peace negotiations that do not include any representatives of the Afghan government. Even as American diplomats have made progress in talks with the Taliban on the future of their military presence, the insurgents have refused to meet Afghan officials directly to chart a government after the United States withdrawal.