Taliban Halting Talks with Govt Over Prisoner Release

[Valin]

TOLO News

Apr. 7 2020

Shaheen says that the prisoners release has been delayed under “one pretext or another till now.”

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The Taliban's spokesman Suhail Shaheen tweeted on Tuesday that the “technical team will not participate in fruitless meetings with relevant sides starting from tomorrow.”

“We sent a technical team of the prisoner’s commission to Kabul for verification and identification of our prisoners as release of prisoners was to start as per the signed agreement and the promise made (to us),” Shaheed tweeted.

“But, unfortunately, their release has been delayed under one pretext or another till now. Therefore, our technical team will not participate in fruitless meetings with relevant sides starting from tomorrow,” he said.

On Monday, the head of the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG), Matin Bek, who is also a member of the negotiation team, said the reason for the delay in the release of Taliban prisoners is that the Taliban are demanding the release of their 15 senior commanders who are involved in “big attacks.”

The release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners is part of deal signed by the US and the Taliban in Doha on Feb. 29.

(Snip)

[Valin]

Afghan Govt Releases Another 100 Taliban Prisoners

Apr. 9 2020

The Afghan National Security Council confirmed on Thursday afternoon that another 100 prisoners had been released. This follows an initial release on Wednesday of the first group of 100 prisoners released by the Afghan government. 

(Snip)