Taliban says ready to resume peace talks

The Taliban on Friday (November 29) said they were ready to sit down again at the negotiating table with the United States.

A spokesman from the Islamist insurgent group told Reuters, "if peace talks start, it will be resumed from the stage where it had stopped."

The last round of talks collapsed earlier this year, called off by U.S. President Donald Trump.

But things started moving again last week with a prisoner swap between Washington and Kabul, raising new hopes for a deal to end the 18-year-long war.

Those hopes got a boost on Thursday (November 28) when Trump -- on a surprise visit to Afghanistan -- said he thought the Taliban would agree to a ceasefire.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"The Taliban wants to make a deal. We'll see if they want to make a deal. It's got to be a real deal but we'll see but they want to make a deal. . And they only want to make a deal because you're doing a great job. That's the only reason they want to make a deal."

One senior Taliban commander said Trump doesn't have much choice but to get talks started up again.

The U.S.-led coalition invaded Afghanistan in 2001.

But in spite of the years of conflict -- and the 13,000 U.S. forces that remain -- the radical group still controls large portions of the country.

Taliban leaders told Reuters their negotiators have been meeting with U.S. officials in Doha since last weekend.

Formal peace talks, they said, could be next.