Under the agreed draft peace agreement, Khalilzad announced that the United States would withdraw about five thousand troops based in Afghanistan and close five bases within 135 days.

Khalilzad stressed that the agreement, reached after months of negotiations with Taliban representatives, had to be approved by US President Donald Trump before it could be signed, but "in principle, we have reached that point."

Khalilzad, the U.S. representative in charge of negotiations with the Taliban, said the goal of the deal was to end the war, but he also said there was no formal ceasefire agreement.

Khalilzad stressed that reaching an agreement on a compromise depends on negotiations between Afghans.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has been briefed on the draft agreement and will consider the agreement before declaring his opinion.

Several Afghan government officials are reacting to being left out of talks between the United States and the Taliban. (ILKHA)