Afghanistan, Pakistan release 18 militant prisoners

KABUL — At least 18 Taliban prisoners, some of them prominent figures, were released by Pakistan and Afghanistan, with no guarantees that they would not rejoin the insurgency, officials said Saturday.

Pakistani authorities said that they were releasing seven Taliban prisoners to facilitate the peace process, while Afghan officials said they had requested the releases and welcomed the move.

Afghan officials complained, however, that Pakistan backed down on the expected release of one Taliban prisoner, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, formerly the top military commander of the insurgents’ movement. Afghan officials have long sought Baradar’s release, viewing him as crucial to restarting peace talks with the insurgents.

An official of the High Peace Council in Afghanistan said the Pakistanis would not release Baradar, citing opposition from U.S. officials. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul declined to comment.

Mollawi Shahidullah Shahid, the spokesman for Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, said the seven released by Pakistan were on a list provided by Afghan officials, which included Baradar.

“We believe that those Taliban released from Pakistani prisons are effective in the peace process and give a positive message to the Taliban as well,” Shahid said.

Separately, Afghan officials confirmed Saturday that the day before they had begun exchanging 11 Taliban prisoners for the release of a female member of the Afghan Parliament, who had been kidnapped by the insurgents last month, according to an Afghan official involved in the exchange, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The 11 Taliban figures released from Pul-e-Charki Prison in Kabul on Friday by Afghan officials were transported to the Moqur district in Ghazni province, where the insurgents were believed to be holding Freeba Ahmadi Kakar, a member of the Afghan Parliament from Kandahar province, who was kidnapped on Aug. 11.

Zholina Faizi, secretary of the Ghazni provincial council, told the Associated Press that Kakar was released Saturday at 5 p.m. and is doing fine.

The identities of those Taliban to be exchanged was not immediately known, but they are four women and a child as well as six men, according to Afghan officials involved in the exchange. The women and the child were apparently family members of insurgents arrested with them.