The ninth round of the negotiations between the US and the Taliban on Saturday completed its third day with progress on a full withdrawal of foreign troops within 15 to 20 months as well as counterterrorism assurances from the Taliban side, sources familiar with the talks said.

The sources said the two sides will sign the peace deal within the next few days which will be followed by intra-Afghan negotiations.

As part of a peace deal, the number of US forces will reduce to 5,000 from the current 14,000, sources said. The troops will be withdrawn from five American bases, which according to President Ghani, they are “small bases” and the reduction will not impact the situation of Afghanistan.

In this program, host Wahid Ahmadi discusses the topic with the following panelists.

Mohammad Asem Asem, former governor of Parwan

Massoud Treshtwal, head of Afghanistan Legal and Political Studies Center