Afghanistan's president has postponed a planned visit to Washington early next week where he was to discuss the US-Taliban talks on ending America's longest war, a person familiar with the negotiations said Friday. The development emerged after the US envoy negotiating with the Taliban, Zalmay Khalilzad, abruptly returned to Qatar for unexpected talks with the insurgents on the deal that he had described as complete just days ago. The Taliban maintain a political office in the Gulf Arab state.

The agreement "in principle" to begin a US troop withdrawal only needed President Donald Trump's approval, Khalilzad had announced on Monday.

The person who told The Associated Press of President Ashraf Ghani's postponed Washington trip was not authorised to talk to reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Since Khalilzad's announcement on Monday, two horrific Taliban car bombings in the Afghan capital, Kabul - one of which killed a US service member - and objections to the deal from the Afghan government and several former US ambassadors to Afghanistan have put pressure on Khalilzad as many wonder whether a deal will truly bring peace.

Copyright Associated Press, 2019