The talks are expected to resume in February but former diplomats said India should watch out of the proxy masters of the Taliban in the Pakistani military establishment.

Khalilzad has been leading a months-long diplomatic push to convince the Taliban to negotiate with the Afghan government, but the militants have steadfastly refused, dismissing authorities in Kabul as "puppets".

The draft deal was agreed after six days of talks in Qatar last week.

Despite the progress on a pact, violence is widely expected to continue, with the Taliban mounting daily attacks against the Afghan government and its security forces.

"Frankly, if the USA troops withdraw from Afghanistan then the promise of good behaviour from the Taliban is really of no effect".

The United States and the Afghan Taliban have drafted the framework of a deal which could pave the way for peace talks with Kabul, Washington's main negotiator was quoted as saying on Monday, but major hurdles including a ceasefire and a withdrawal of foreign forces remain.

A senior Taliban official who attended the talks told the BBC over the weekend that both sides had agreed to form two committees to draw up detailed plans on how to implement agreements in principle on the two key issues: when US-led troops could be withdrawn from Afghanistan, and whether the Taliban would deny jihadist groups from using the country as a base.

USA and Taliban envoys have "a draft of the framework that has to be fleshed out before it becomes an agreement", chief US negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad told The New York Times.

The statement appeared directed at toning down last week's remarks by Khalilzad reporting "significant progress" in talks with the Taliban. The unnamed official said the Taliban representatives had requested a break in the negotiations to speak with the group's leadership about the USA demand for talks and a ceasefire between the militants and the government in Kabul.

On the issue of foreign troops in the country, he said no country wants this indefinitely but that now, Afghanistan needs these forces.

"I call on the Taliban to. show their Afghan will, and accept Afghans' demand for peace, and enter serious talks with the Afghan government", President Ashraf Ghani said in a televised address on Monday.

"Our commitment is to provide peace and to prevent any possible disaster", Ghani said in an address to the nation.

"No Afghans want foreign forces in their country for the long term", Ghani said.

The Taliban say they will only begin negotiations with the government once a firm date for troop withdrawal has been agreed.

Trump is planning to withdraw more than 5,000 of the 14,000 USA troops in Afghanistan, a US official said in December, in the latest sign that the US president's patience is thinning with America's longest war and overseas military interventions. The group also rejected a ceasefire and direct talks with Ghani's administration.

"The Taliban have committed, to our satisfaction, to do what is necessary that would prevent Afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for worldwide terrorist groups or individuals", he said.

The Taliban's power and reach have surged since foreign combat troops left Afghanistan in 2014. Trump has said he wants to pull out half the remaining 14,000 American troops, according to U.S. officials.

"Pakistan played a vital role in bringing the U.S. and the Taliban to the negotiations table".

The Western-backed government in Kabul has struggled to fend off a resurgent Taliban and other militant groups.