US and Taliban negotiators moved closer Tuesday to a deal, the insurgent group said, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo voiced guarded hope for a deal under which Washington will withdraw large numbers of troops from Afghanistan. “We have progress in this round so we are finalising the remaining points,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told journalists outside the upmarket Doha members’ club where the talks are taking place. The United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 after the September 11 attacks, toppling the Taliban from power.
