The United States will soon hold direct peace talks with the Taliban to find a political alternative to ongoing conflict between the two sides in Afghanistan, White House officials have revealed.

A senior White House official said US and Taliban envoys would meet in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in a couple of days, following which the Taliban would meet a "High Peace Council," which has been established by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to carry out the peace talks.

To help start peace talks on ending the more than a decade old conflict in Afghanistan, the Taliban has opened a political office in Doha.

The Taliban said it wanted a political solution capable of bringing about a just government and ending foreign occupation in Afghanistan, but it also declared that the armed group would keep on attacking US targets in the war-hit country.

President Barack Obama described the planned peace talks as an important first step towards settlement between the Taliban and Afghanistan's government; but cautioned that the process would be lengthy.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera's Jane Ferguson said that people in Afghanistan are extremely concerned about the developments in Doha. Reporting from Kabul, she said, "What about the other objectives that were told to Afghans in
2001 such as women's rights, universal human rights, democracy?"

Prior to the United States' intervention in September 2001, al-Qaeda had bases in the then Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.