Afghan special envoy Khalilzad confirms Taliban talks 'dead'

WASHINGTON – US special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has admitted failure of peace talks with the Taliban reportedly calling the process "dead".

This was stated by Representative of Democratic chairman of House Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel at a public hearing after Khalilzad's appearance on Thursday.

Engel said "we have learned that president Donald Trump up-ended the deal and that the peace deal evidently is dead".

Earlier, Khalilzad briefed members of the US Congress behind closed doors about of the specifics of the US-Taliban negotiations, and the circumstances that led to the scuttling of the deal by President Trump.

The US chief negotiator held nine rounds of talks with the Taliban in Doha and UAE in a year in which he finalized a deal in principle but the United States discontinued negotiations with the group.

The hearing comes weeks after the US president abruptly cancelled peace talks with Taliban over killing of an American soldier in the Afghan capital Kabul.

Afghan special envoy confirms Taliban talks 'dead'

Afghanistan has been marred by a string of deadly Taliban-claimed attacks following the collapse of peace talks with the US as they continue to reject acknowledging the Afghan government.