Representatives of the United States and the Taliban, on Saturday, signed a long-negotiated agreement in the Gulf State of Qatar, marking a major step in the Afghan peace process.

The agreement is to initiate a gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and lead to intra-Afghan peace talks.

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According to a joint declaration, published by the U.S. and Afghan governments on Saturday in Kabul, the U.S. and NATO would withdraw all troops in Afghanistan within 14 months, if the Taliban upholds the commitments made in the agreement.

U.S. Special Envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, and the Taliban’s co-founder and political chief, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, signed the peace agreement in a ceremony held at the Sheraton Hotel in Doha, the capital of Qatar, where most of the talks between the two sides took place over more than one and a half years.

U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo and representatives from over two dozen countries and international organisations, among them the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Turkey, witnessed the event.