U.S. special representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said Saturday that "significant progress on vital issues" had been made in talks with the Taliban in Qatar.

The boast came after six days of negotiations on how to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan and could mark a significant milestone in ending the 17-year war in the region.

“Will build on the momentum and resume talks shortly,” Khalilzad tweeted. “We have a number of issues left to work out. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, and ‘everything’ must include an intra-Afghan dialogue and comprehensive ceasefire.”



2/3. Will build on the momentum and resume talks shortly. We have a number of issues left to work out. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, and “everything” must include an intra-Afghan dialogue and comprehensive ceasefire. — U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (@US4AfghanPeace) January 26, 2019



Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid agreed that the discussions were productive, but said "until the issue of withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan is agreed upon, progress in other issues is impossible." He also denied that a ceasefire had already been agreed upon.

"Reports by some media outlets about agreement on a ceasefire and talks with the Kabul administration are not true," Mujahid said.

Khalilzad has been involved in negotiations with the Taliban since July 2018, but as recently as last month the Pentagon concluded in a report to Congress that discussions had reached an "impasse." There was also some uncertainty surrounding the most recent round of discussions because the Taliban warned it would cut off contact with Khalilzad. The threats stemmed from his push for the Taliban to engage in discussions with the Afghan government in Kabul to resolve the conflict, but they said this week they would continue to negotiate with him.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Taliban had agreed to prevent al Qaeda and the Islamic State from entering Afghanistan to plot terrorist attacks — a key priority for the U.S. However, what remains to be worked out is any agreement on whether U.S. troops would be pulled from Afghanistan and what would happen to the U.S. bases that the Taliban wants closed.

Although last month media reports claimed Trump instructed the Pentagon to begin pulling approximately half the 14,000 troops from the region, National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis said days later that the president “has not made a determination to drawdown U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and he has not directed the Department of Defense to begin the process of withdrawing U.S. personnel from Afghanistan.”

The Washington Post reported earlier this month that Trump has claimed his advisers are pushing him to remain in "all these wars forever," although he still aims to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan. But a drawdown in the near future may not be as dramatic as Trump initially hoped, as some White House officials predicted the withdrawal will only involve half of the 7,000 troops Trump first requested in December.