*KABUL – Afghanistan’s High Peace Council (HPC) says the Afghan people willhear some good news regarding peace talks with the Taliban in the nearfuture.*

On Wednesday, the commander of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan General JohnNicholson said that senior Taliban officials have been secretly negotiatingwith the Afghan government officials on possible ceasefire.

“A lot of the diplomatic activity and dialogue is occurring off the stage,and it’s occurring at multiple levels,” Nicholson said Wednesday in ateleconference with reporters at the Pentagon.

He would not identify the figures involved in the negotiations, except tosay that they included mid- and senior-level Taliban officials, AFP said.

“I should point out they met in secret. This is how they were able toadvance the talks,” he said, citing the need for the “confidentiality ofthe process.”

In reaction, a member of the Afghan High Peace Council confirmed to ArianaNews that the council has been engaged in secret talks with the Taliban,citing sensitivity of the issue as reason for not disclosing the Talibanfigures who were being involved in talks.

“In the near future we will be witness of some good news regarding peace[with the Taliban],” Rahim Beg Yaqubi said. “The negotiations with theTaliban might take place closely soon.”

” We will continue to negotiate, and soon you will get to know about ourcontacts through media,” he added.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in late February proposed peace talks withthe Taliban, saying they could be recognized as a political party if theyaccepted a ceasefire and recognized the country’s 2004 constitution.

The Taliban, however, did not officially rejected the peace offer. But thegroup has intensified attacks across the country, following theannouncement of their spring offensive so-called “Al Khandaq”.