Russia expects that the United States will soon sign a peace deal with the Taliban, President Vladimir Putin’s special representative on Afghanistan has said.

“[The agreement] is expected to be signed but when – I cannot answer this question. We hope it will be signed as soon as possible but, obviously, it will be done after the New Year,” Zamir Kabulov, who is also a department chief at Russia’s Foreign Ministry, said as quoted by Russia’s TASS news agency.
The agency said that it was told by Kabulov earlier that the US and the Taliban had agreed that Russia and a number of other countries would be invited as witnesses at the signing ceremony. Moscow, in his, words, would attend.
US top negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad has been meeting with the Taliban for the past one year in an effort to end the war in Afghanistan.
The talks were declared dead by US President Donald Trump in September after the group carried out a deadly attack in Kabul just as the sides were nearing a deal.
The talks resumed earlier this month with Khalilzad pushing for a ceasefire. After a suicide attack on US base in Bagram, Khalilzad said that he was taking a brief pause for the Taliban to consult their leadership.