Taliban says progress made at Afghan talks in Moscow but no breakthrough

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Taliban official said on Thursday that decent progress had been made at talks with a group of senior Afghan politicians in Moscow but that there had been no breakthrough and that further talks would be needed, Russian news agencies reported.

The delegation, led by chief Taliban negotiator Mullah Baradar Akhund, met politicians, including senior regional leaders and candidates challenging President Ashraf Ghani in this year's presidential election amid gathering diplomatic efforts to end the 18-year war.

(Reporting by Maxim Rodionov; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Andrew Osborn)