Afghans halt prisoner release, delaying talks with Taliban
KABUL, Afghanistan – The Afghan government said Monday it will not release the last 320 Taliban prisoners it is holding until the insurgents free more captured soldiers, defying a traditional council held last week and further delaying intra-Afghan talks sought by the United States.
The talks, which were laid out in a peace deal signed between the U.S. and the Taliban in February, were expected to begin on Thursday but are now postponed indefinitely.
The ruling by the traditional council, which called for the immediate release of the Taliban prisoners, had raised hopes of a breakthrough in the process.
The U.S.-Taliban peace deal called on the Taliban to free 1,000 government and military personnel and for the government to free 5,000 Taliban prisoners. The prisoner releases were to be a goodwill gesture ahead of intra-Afghan negotiations aimed at devising a postwar roadmap.
“We are going to release them. That’s not an issue. But it has to be two-way,” government spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said. “If we take this bold step, releasing all these guys, all these bad people, why are the Taliban not releasing our captives, which is a very small number?”
Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban’s political spokesman, said the group had fulfilled its obligations and was not aware of any other security personnel in its custody who were to be released.
“We have released 1,000 prisoners that we had promised to release,” Shaheen said. The Taliban have said they are ready to open talks with the government within one week of the release of the last Taliban prisoners.