WASHINGTON – A meeting between a senior US diplomat and Talibanrepresentatives in Doha last week to discuss a possible ceasefire endedwith “very positive signals” and a decision to hold more meetings, peoplewith knowledge of the talks said on Sunday.

The meeting between a delegation led by Alice Wells, deputy assistantsecretary in the State Department’s Bureau of South and Central AsianAffairs, and Taliban representatives was first reported in The Wall StreetJournal but has not been officially confirmed.

According to one Taliban official, who said he was part of a four-memberdelegation, there were “very positive signals” from the meeting, which hesaid was conducted in a “friendly atmosphere” in a Doha hotel.

“You can’t call it peace talks,” he said. “These are a series of meetingsfor initiating formal and purposeful talks. We agreed to meet again soonand resolve the Afghan conflict through dialogue.”

He said the talks had been held without the presence of Afghan governmentofficials at the insistence of the Taliban.

The move comes as the Afghan government and the United States have steppedup efforts to end the 17 year-war in Afghanistan following theunprecedented three-day truce during last month’s Eid al-Fitr holiday.

The truce, which saw unarmed Taliban fighters mingling with soldiers on thestreets of Kabul and other cities, offered the first concrete vision of apeace settlement since an earlier attempt at peace talks broke down in 2015.

Although the Taliban refused an offer by President Ashraf Ghani to extendthe Eid ceasefire, behind-the-scenes contacts have continued and thegovernment has said it is considering another ceasefire during next month’sEid-al Qurban holiday.

As hopes of possible formal negotiations have risen, the United States hasagreed to participate directly in the talks, although it insists theprocess will remain under Afghan leadership.