A spokesman of the Taliban political office in Qatar, Suhail Shaheen, has said that the US President Donald Trump’s decision to call off negotiations with the group was “surprising” and “astonishing” to the group as they were preparing for the signing of a peace deal which was “finalized in principle” when they heard about the move.

Talking to Al Jazeera in an interview published on Sept. 12, Mr. Shaheen said the Taliban is ready for negotiations with Afghans, but a ceasefire will be possible when all foreign forces leave the country.

The two sides held nine rounds of talks over the last year. US chief negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad led the talks from the United States side while the Taliban team was led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy leader of the group, and Abbas Stanekzai, former head of Taliban’s political office in Doha.

In this program, host Yaser Abarar discusses the topic with Rahmatullah Bezhanpor, a political analyst and Hamid Saboori an international affairs analyst.