A visiting Afghan Taliban delegation held talks with senior officials in China Sunday to discuss the Islamist insurgent group's now defunct peace negotiations with the United States.

The insurgent visit comes two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump had abruptly called off his administration's months-long peace talks, citing ongoing Taliban deadly attacks in Afghanistan. The two adversaries were believed to be on the verge of signing an agreement to end the 18-year-old Afghan war before Trump declared the peace process as "dead."

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said the nine-member delegation has traveled to Beijing under the leadership of Mullah Baradar, the head of the group's political office in Qatar, which hosted the U.S.-Taliban talks.

The visitors' opened their tour with a meeting Sunday with Chinese special envoy for Afghanistan, Deng Xijun, the Taliban spokesman said. "The Chinese special representative said the U.S.-Taliban deal is a good framework for the peaceful solution of the Afghan issue and they support it," Shaheen noted.

He quoted Baradar as telling the Chinese host the Taliban had initiated the talks with the U.S. and a "comprehensive deal" was also concluded. "Now, if the American president cannot uphold his words and promises, then the responsibility for further destruction and bloodshed in Afghanistan rests on his shoulders," Baradar said. There were was no immediate comments available from Chinese officials about their meetings with the Taliban delegation.