KABUL (DPA) - US President Donald Trump, in a telephone conversation with his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani, has insisted on a ceasefire as a precondition to begin peace talks, presidential palace spokesman Sediq Sediqi said in a series of tweets on Friday (Nov 22).

According to the tweets, Mr Trump also told Mr Ghani that for any process to succeed, the inclusion of Afghanistan in the talks is "imperative".

The US and the Taleban had been talking in a bid to put an end to the 18-year-long Afghan conflict for almost a year before the talks were called off by Mr Trump in September at what was reported to be the last minute.

The Afghan government was largely marginalised in the talks after the Taleban refused to negotiate with it.

Through the Taleban's lens, the Afghan government is nothing beyond a "puppet regime".

In reaction to the phone call, a spokesman for the Taleban, Zabiullah Mujahid, told DPA that once the US left Afghanistan, the Taleban will talk with all Afghan sides, but not with the Afghan government as a "legitimate state".

Prospects for peace in Afghanistan seem distant despite the recent release of three key Taleban members in exchange for two Kabul-based American University of Afghanistan professors, a move the Taleban said will help with the peace process.

A few days after the swap, the Taleban claimed to have shot down a US Chinook helicopter in south-eastern Logar province on Wednesday, killing two US soldiers.

On the same day, the militants killed at least 12 Afghan soldiers in northern Kunduz province in another overnight attack.