US special envoy in Kabul amid renewed push for deal

Zalmay Khalilzad has spent more than a year trying to reach a settlement with the Taliban

US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, above, met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul on Wednesday. AP

The US special envoy for negotiations with the Taliban met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul on Wednesday amid a renewed push to reach an accord with the insurgents.

Zalmay Khalilzad and Mr Ghani discussed several topics including the need for a ceasefire, said the president's spokesman, Sediq Seddiqi said.

"The president also expressed his concerns about the continued violence by the Taliban," Mr Sediqqi said. "The president reiterated that the government and people of Afghanistan want a sustainable peace."

Mr Khalilzad has spent more than a year leading the push for a deal with the Taliban that would include the US pulling its forces from the country in return for security guarantees from the insurgents.

Although the US has kept Mr Ghani apprised of developments, the Afghan president has been cut out of talks because the Taliban refuse to recognise his government.

A US-Taliban deal was all but signed in early September, but President Donald Trump scuttled it at the last minute after a Kabul bombing killed an American soldier.

Talks resumed on December 7 amid a reduction in violence in Kabul but were paused after another Taliban attack, this time at Bagram airbase north of the capital.

The US embassy in Kabul declined to comment immediately, but talks appear to have resumed again this week in Doha.

The latest visit comes after 10 members of the same family died on Tuesday when their car hit a roadside bomb as they were travelling to a funeral in eastern Afghanistan, officials said.

The victims were driving in Khost province in a large vehicle when the blast occurred.

"The casualties include five men, two women and three children, all from one family," said Talib Mangal, a spokesman for the Governor of Khost.

"They were travelling to Logar province to attend a funeral."

Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said the family were killed by a Taliban bomb.