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The Taliban will not take part in intra-Afghan talks until 5,000 of their prisoners are released in accordance with a deal struck with Washington, a spokesman said on Monday, with the militants also warning of new attacks on Afghan forces as a partial truce agreement expired.
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Under an accord between the United States and the Islamist Taliban signed on Saturday, the two sides are committed to working towards the release of combat and political prisoners as a confidence-building measure.
The agreement calls for up to 5,000 jailed Taliban prisoners to be released in exchange for up to 1,000 Afghan government captives by March 10.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, not involved in the talks, has rejected that demand.
“We are fully ready for the intra-Afghan talks, but we are waiting for the release of our 5,000 prisoners,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by phone.
“If our 5,000 prisoners – 100 or 200 more or less does not matter – do not get released there will be no intra-Afghan talks.”
The United States has said it hopes negotiations towards a permanent political settlement and ceasefire can start in the coming days, but Western diplomats and analysts see stark challenges ahead.
Ghani said on Sunday that US President Donald Trump had not asked for the release of the prisoners and that the issue of prisoner releases should be discussed as part of a comprehensive peace deal.
“The Afghan government has not made any commitment to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners before the start of any potential negotiation,” Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for Ghani, said in response to the Talibans statements on Monday.
He added that the prisoner release “cannot be a requisite for talks”, and instead should be part of the negotiations.
A joint statement from the United States and the Afghan government says that the government would take part in discussions on the “feasibility of releasing significant numbers of prisoners on both sides” but does not mention the specific number or timeframe.
Zabihullah said the majority of prisoners on the list of 5,000 had been captured by American forces and were held in Afghan government prisons and that they had prioritised sick and older prisoners.
'People are enjoying the reduction in violence'
US-led forces ousted the hardline militants from power in 2001.
Zabihullah said that an agreement of a reduction in violence in the seven days leading up to Saturdays pact in Doha had formally endeRead More – Source
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