Afghan govt, Taleban talk on prisoner swap

kabul — Afghan government representatives have met with the Taleban in Kabul for the first time to discuss a prisoner swap aimed at jump-starting a floundering peace process, officials said on Wednesday.

The two sides met on Tuesday and would meet again Wednesday for further talks being observed by the International Committee of the Red Cross, Afghanistan’s Office of the National Security Council said on Twitter.

“The two sides held face-toface negotiations about the release of Afghan National Defense and Security Force personnel as well as Taleban prisoners,” the security council said.

It was the first time the hardliners had been invited to Kabul to meet directly with government officials since they were toppled in the US-led invasion of 2001.

The two sides had spoken previously in a videoconference to discuss the prisoner issue.

There was no immediate comment from the Taleban, but a spokesman for the insurgents said Tuesday that their team had arrived in the Afghan capital to monitor the release of their prisoners.

Washington signed a deal with the Taleban in late February that promised the withdrawal of US and foreign troops from Afghanistan by July next year, provided the Taleban start talks with Kabul and adhere to other guarantees.

The deal required the Afghan government — which was not a signatory to the accord — to free 5,000 Taleban prisoners and for the insurgents to release 1,000 pro-government captives in return. The imbalance is one of many aspects of the agreement that observers say gives the Taleban the better bargain.

The swap was supposed to have taken place by March 10, at which point peace talks between the Taleban and the government were meant to begin. But Kabul has been gripped by fresh political bickering and infighting and the prisoner release issue was delayed.

The security situation has deteriorated in the meantime, with a series of Taleban attacks killing at least 20 members of Afghan security forces on Sunday. —

The two sides held faceto-face negotiations about the release of Afghan National Defence and Security Force personnel as well as Taliban prisoners ICRC Afghanistan’s office of the National security Council