The Doha-based Taliban chief negotiator and deputy of the group’s office, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and his delegation, had held a video conference with the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss a full implementation of the US-Taliban peace deal, the pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and other related issues, Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the group took to Twitter.
As a part of the meeting, Mullah Baradar demanded the release of the remaining Afghan detainees from the Guantanamo Bay, Shaheen further said.
The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, said in the virtual meeting the Taliban had reduced the number of attacks, but reiterated that both sides needed to reduce violence, according to the group’s spokesman.
The Taliban’s spokesperson in addition said that Mullah Baradar met with Mohammad Ibrahim Tahiryan, a special envoy of Iran for Afghanistan in the Qatari capital of Doha on Monday, discussing the issues of the Afghan refugees in Iran, border issues and the intra-Afghan peace negotiations.
In the meeting, Mullah Baradar highlighted that an intra-Afghan peace dialogue would begin as soon as a complete release of prisoners, as per the agreement signed on February 29 in Doha between the United States and the Taliban, is fulfilled.
The United States and the Taliban singed a peace pact in February 29 under which the Afghan government was required to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners and for the insurgents to release 1,000 pro-government captives in return.
Under the terms of the deal, the U.S. also committed to withdrawing all of its military forces within 14 months.
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