Washington: Ahead of his visit to India next week, US President Donald Trump has reiterated that he sees "a chance" of a peace deal with the Taliban to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. The US has been negotiating with the Taliban and Trump earlier, too, suggested there had been progress between the two sides to reduce violence in the war-torn country and end America's longest war, for 19 years. "We are negotiating with the Taliban. We've been negotiating with them for a while. We will see what happens. There's a chance of making a deal. There's a chance," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews Tuesday afternoon local time.

Marvin G Weinbaum, Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan Studies at the Middle East Institute, has said the US appears well on its way to signing an agreement with the Taliban later this month. Trump is scheduled to visit India on February 24 and 25. "Among its provisions, the agreement is expected to call for a seven-day period of reduced Taliban violence, supposedly to test the group's sincerity and ability to control its forces in the field. The Taliban will also pledge to disassociate itself from al-Qaeda and like-minded terrorist organizations," Weinbaum said.