Afghan-Taliban talks can be held in Uzbek city of Samarkand-Afghan president press service

According to the press service, Ghani held talks on the Afghan peace process with a high-ranking delegation from Uzbekistan in the Afghan capital of Kabul earlier in the day.

"The Uzbek delegation reaffirmed their support for the Afghan government’s peace initiative and offered to host direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Samarkand given that there is grounds for it," the press service said, without specifying the date of the future talks.

Meanwhile, Sayed Ihsan Taheri, a spokesman for the Afghanistan High Peace Council, which was created almost a decade ago to negotiate with the Taliban, welcomed Uzbekistan's initiative in comments to Sputnik but noted that it had not been officially accepted by Kabul yet.

"Uzbekistan proposed to host the official Afghan government and Taliban talks .We appreciate Uzbek support in peace process and will discuss it once the negotiations are started. In our peace offer to Taliban, we asked Taliban to set the place good for them so that we start facilitating [the peace process]," Taheri said.

The armed confrontation between Kabul and the Taliban has been dragging on for years, with the insurgents perpetrating regular attacks across the country, and the government conducting anti-terrorist raids with support from the United States.

The Taliban has long refused to engage in direct peace talks with official Kabul, accusing the Afghan authorities of being manipulated by Washington.