April 7 (The Killid Group) – Taliban announced a suspension of prisoner release talks with the Afghan government due to a delay in prisoner swap process.
Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban’s spokesperson, in a tweet said that their three-member technical team won’t participate in “fruitless” talks with the Afghan government.
“We sent a technical team of the Prisoner’s Commission to Kabul for verification and identification of our prisoners as release of prisoners was to start as per the signed agreement and the promise made (to us),” the Taliban spokesman tweeted, adding that “But, unfortunately, their release has been delayed under one pretext or another till now. Therefore, our technical team will not participate in fruitless meetings with relevant sides starting from tomorrow.”
While a day earlier, head of the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG), Mateen Baig, said that the reason for the delay in the release of Taliban prisoners was that the Taliban urged for the release of 15 of their senior commanders involved in “massive” attacks.
Suhail Saheen, however, issued a denial saying that under the U.S.-Taliban pact signed on 29th of February, those 15 prisoners were also among 5,000 jailed Taliban to be freed in exchange for 1,000 Afghan prisoners.
Under the accord, the United States and the Taliban are committed to work expeditiously to release combat and political prisoners as a confidence-building measure, with the coordination and approval of all relevant sides. 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.
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