Hamid Karzai said the talks will hopefully lead to a decision that puts the people of Afghanistan in charge of their country and its government.

He said on Twitter early on Wednesday he had received assurances by phone from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about Washington's commitment to an "enduring partnership" with Afghanistan.

Speaking after the Moscow meeting, the head of the Taliban delegation, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, said talks on the USA withdrawal were continuing.

For years the refusal of the United States to meet with Taliban officials has prevented any negotiation.

But the USA -backed government in Kabul was not invited to the conference because the Taliban have persistently refused to engage in any talks with Kabul until all foreign forces leave Afghanistan.

Ghani also said changes might be made to government's negotiating team if necessary.

Trump offered no specifics about when he would bring home the 14,000 US troops now in Afghanistan.

Afghan women, also largely excluded from the table, fear seeing their hard-won rights eroded if negotiators seek a hasty truce with the Taliban.

USA negotiators had tried to persuade the Taliban to meet Afghan officials, but Stanikzai remained vague when questioned about the circumstances under which they would ever agree to do so, the BBC said. The talks, however, have sidelined Ghani and his government. This should have been self-evident because Trump's foreign policy is all about prioritizing United States interests instead of "taking one for the team" and "doing favors" for its worldwide "partners" who he feels have been exploiting America for far too long by freeloading off of it. India, it can be said, is one such "partner", at least when it comes to Afghanistan, though this will be returned to in the next section of the present article.

It was based on a commitment to withdraw U.S. forces from the country, and a guarantee by the Taliban not to allow worldwide jihadist groups to use Afghanistan as a base in the future. "Until now we did not agree", the Taliban official said.

The gathering has been criticized by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. "Those taking part in the talks are independent individuals", Ghani said, according to Tolo News.

The Kremlin hosted another Taliban meeting in November past year which brought to the negotiating table representatives of the insurgent group as well as members of the Afghan peace council - a body created by the Afghan government to facilitate peace talks.

One effect of reduced USA leverage is a greater role for Moscow, which has worked behind the scenes to solidify influence in Afghanistan.

Afghan peace talks have kicked off in the Russian capital Moscow.

Another important factor that Kakar ignores is Trump's signature "America First" foreign policy, as he writes that "It appears the USA is presently only concerned about itself, rather than the people of Afghanistan and other states which have a stake in the country".

"At the first step, we want all the foreign forces to leave and end the military presence in our country", Sohail Shahin, a spokesman for a Taliban office in Qatar, said by telephone.

The Afghan government was not represented at both the talks in Doha and Moscow, sparking fears among many Afghans that a hasty pullout of USA troops would once again plunge the war-ravaged country into a brutal civil war.

Afghan officials say 21 people have been killed in the latest Taliban attacks in the country, including 11 policemen who were slain when the insurgents stormed a checkpoint in northern Baghlan province.

The Moscow conference was the Taliban's most significant engagement with Afghan leaders in years. He has held several meetings with the Taliban.