AN ACR MLG CAME CLOSE TO AN SMA ON A TAXIWAY AT NIGHT AT PHX.

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AFTER LNDG ON RWY 26R AT SKY HARBOR ARPT AT NIGHT; WE TOOK THE HIGHSPD TURNOFF AND CONTINUED THE TURN 180 DEG ONTO THE OUTER PARALLEL TAXIWAY. IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE FO SWITCHED TO GND CTL WE HEARD GND TELLING A SMALL ACFT THAT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE WAITED FOR HIM. SIMULTANEOUSLY I THEN RECOGNIZED A SMALL ACFT STOPPED PRIOR TO THE INTXN OF THE HIGHSPD TAXIWAY AND THE PARALLEL TAXIWAY AND TO OUR R AS WE WERE TURNING L. FROM THE CONVERSATION HE HAD WITH GND CTL; IT SEEMED HE'D STOPPED HIS ACFT AS WE TURNED IN FRONT OF HIM ONTO THE PARALLEL TAXIWAY. HE CLAIMED WE ALMOST HIT HIM. ACTUALLY; SINCE WE WERE IN FRONT OF HIM ON THE PARALLEL TAXIWAY THAT DOESN'T SEEM LIKELY. BOTH THE FO AND I HAD SEEN DIM LIGHTS BUT NOT RECOGNIZED THEM AS AN ACFT OR THAT THEY WERE MOVING. I BELIEVE THE FOLLOWING FACTORS MAY HAVE PLAYED A PART IN THIS OCCURRENCE. THE STANDARD OPERATING PROC FOR PHX THAT HAS BEEN BRIEFED TO US ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS IS THAT GND CTL WANTS US TO KEEP IT ROLLING AFTER WE TURN OFF THE RWY. WE NORMALLY DO. USUALLY TWR GIVES US RPTS OF POTENTIAL CONFLICTING TFC FOR TAXI ON THE LNDG ROLLOUT. NO 'HOLD SHORT' OR 'GIVE WAY' INSTRUCTION WAS RECEIVED. AS WE TURNED OFF THE RWY; THE FO LOOKED INSIDE THE COCKPIT TO DETERMINE THE PARKING GATE AND TO SWITCH FREQS FROM TWR TO GND. I FAILED TO SEE/PERCEIVE THE TAXIING ACFT'S LIGHTS FURTHER DOWN THE PARALLEL TAXIWAY.