Reuters, Washington :The United Nations has not declared a breakdown in Syrian peace talks and the United States still sees a path forward that includes a political transition in which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would leave office, the White House said on Tuesday.”The UN… has not described the situation as breaking down. They have acknowledged the talks have been postponed, but there still is a framework in place,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.”I believe that there are still technical discussions that are taking place in Geneva … so there still is a path forward here,” Earnest said after the main Syrian opposition bloc involved in the talks said it had postponed the dialogue, in part due to a spate of air strikes.Meanwhile, Syria’s regime is prepared to discuss the creation of a new unity government at peace talks in Geneva but President Bashar al-Assad’s fate remains off limits, its lead negotiator told AFP on Tuesday.Assad’s chief representative in Geneva, UN ambassador Bashar al-Jafaari, had during previous rounds of peace talks insisted that any discussion of a political transition in Syria was premature.”A broader unity government is the only topic of discussion here,” Jafaari said in the interview with AFP.”It is not in our jurisdiction, it is not within our prerogatives to discuss the fate of President Bashar al-Assad.”Jafaari made the comments a day after the main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) suspended its formal participation at the UN-brokered talks in protest at escalating violence and continuing restrictions on humanitarian access in Syria.