May 07 (The Killid Group) — The U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad in an attempt to move the Afghan peace process forward has departed for travel to Doha, New Delhi and Islamabad, a statement by the U.S. State Department read.
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad departed on May 05 for travel to Doha, and will leave there for New Delhi, and Islamabad, the statement said, adding that in Doha he will meet with the leaders of the Taliban movement to discuss a full implementation of the February’s agreement reached between the United States and the group.
The State Department’s press release further read that in New Delhi, the ambassador will meet the Indian officials to discuss the country’s role in a “sustainable peace in Afghanistan and the region, adding that he will also discuss the Afghan peace process in Islamabad.
In each stop, he will discuss the necessity of reduction in violence, moving the intra-Afghan talks forward and the cooperation of all sides in addressing the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Hours later, Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the office of the insurgents movement in Qatar confirmed in a recent tweet that the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad, has met with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the political deputy of the group in Qatari capital Doha.
In the meeting, a special representative of Qatar’s foreign ministry, Dr. Mutlaq Al-Qahtani, was also present. The relevant sides discussed speeding up the prisoner release, the start of intra-Afghan talks, and a full implementation of the agreement reached between U.S. and the Taliban.
The Taliban has been emphasizing that the process of prisoner release should be sped up as an attempt to save lives from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and move toward starting the intra-Afghan negotiations, Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the office of the insurgents in Qatar, took to Twitter.
The Taliban are pledged to continue releasing Afghan government prisoners, Shaheen added.
So far, nearly 902 Taliban prisoners have been released by the Afghan government, and the process will continue until a total of 1,500 of the insurgents are freed from the prisons.
The Taliban, meanwhile, has released a total of 112 government prisoners.
As a confidence-building measure, the Afghan government and the armed group must work with the coordination and approval of all relevant sides to move forward the process of prisoner swap which was a main part of the agreement reached between the United States and the insurgents.
The agreement calls for the release of up to 5,000 jailed Taliban prisoners who were set to be released in exchange for up to 1,000 Afghan government captives by March 10, but the process was delayed due to several reasons.
Follow TKG on Twitter & Facebook
