The talks had previously been rumored, but this is the first time the insurgents have publicly confirmed them. They are aimed at reviving a longstanding offer by the American government to release Taliban prisoners from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, into custody in Qatar, in exchange for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl of the United States Army, the only American being held by insurgents in Afghanistan.

The Taliban statement said that they had provided the Americans with a video of Sergeant Bergdahl to prove that he was still alive and in their custody.

It said the insurgents and the Americans had made some progress in their talks through an unnamed mediator, but then they broke off. “Due to the current complicated political situation in the country,” the Taliban statement concluded, “the leadership of the Islamic Emirate decided to suspend talks over this issue for the time being.”