Taliban ready to fetch fighters in Afghanistan prisoner swap

THE Taliban has sent vehicles to collect its fighters expected to be released by the Afghan government in a prisoner exchange, and will honour the deal by handing over 1,000 government troops.

The anticipated release is part of a deal signed by the United States and the Islamist militant group last month that would allow US forces and Nato troops to withdraw from Afghanistan, ending more than 18 years of war.

The Taliban has demanded the release of the prisoners as a confidencebuilding measure to pave the way for the opening of direct talks between the government and the insurgents.

Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan president, said that the presidential palace would issue a decree with details of the process, and the release was contingent on security and peace developments.

“The Afghan government has reached a framework based on which the release of prisoners will be in exchange for a significant reduction in the level of violence,” he said.

A senior Taliban leader in Doha, the group’s political headquarters, said vehicles had been sent to an area near Bagram Prison, north of the capital Kabul, to collect the freed fighters.

A government source said any release was unlikely in the coming days and could be weeks away. The issue has become one of the biggest sticking points in any progress towards peace.

An Asian diplomat in Kabul said: “The Taliban needs this to show to their rank and file. For the foot soldiers on the ground, a reduction-in-violence agreement [or] a troop withdrawal agreement signed in Doha means nothing – fighters returning is something they can feel.”