Taliban negotiators in Qatar to sign deal with U.S. to end Afghan war

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Chris Sanderson, 24, from Flemington, New Jersey shouts as he tries to protect an Afghan man and his child after Taliban fighters opened fire in the town of Marjah, in Nad Ali district, Helmand province, Afghanistan February 13, 2010. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic/File Photo

DOHA (Reuters) - A 31-member Taliban delegation has arrived in Qatar to sign a U.S. troop withdrawal deal that could end the war in Afghanistan, officials of the hardline Islamist group said on Saturday.

The United States and Taliban in Afghanistan are poised to sign a peace deal in the presence of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that is part of a wider push for Afghan reconciliation and an end to the longest U.S. war.