Washington, Sep 20 (TIWN) Zalmay Khalilzad, Washington's Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, briefed members of the Congress about the US-Taliban negotiations, and the circumstances that led to the scuttling of the deal by American President Donald Trump.

"In the last few weeks, we've seen the Afghan reconciliation process go off the rails in spectacular fashion," Representative Eliot Engel, the Democrat chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said at a public hearing after Khalilzad's appearance.  "We've learned that the president up-ended the deal and we have learned that the peace deal evidently is dead," Engel said.  In a series of tweets earlier this month, US President Donald Trump said he was calling off secret meetings with Taliban representatives and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at Camp David in Maryland.