The Afghan government and the Taliban could not remove differences over prisoner release on Sunday despite earlier announcement Afghan officials to unveil a plan for the release of nearly 1500 Taliban prisoners.
A presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi had tweeted the government will announce its new position on the fate of the remaining prisoners on Sunday after a detailed review of the issue.
The announcement was expected in the evening but it did not happen and officials told the media in Kabul that the announcement is delayed until Monday. But some sources in Kabul say the announcement is likely to delay further.
A Taliban prisoner commission’s source told Daily Times that a Taliban team was involved in talks for the release of 1500 Taliban prisoners in Kabul on Sunday.
“Afghan officials had told the Taliban delegation that 600 more Taliban prisoners would be released, however, they raised objections at the release of 200 to 300 Taliban, who the government claims are involved in murder, drug smuggling and other crimes,” he said.
Taliban have rejected Kabul’s allegations against their prisoners.
An Afghan journalist told Daily Times from Kabul that the government had told the media that the policy on prisoners will be announced around 6 pm but the officials “bogged down.”
Afghan officials have now come up with a new argument that “crimes of hundreds of Taliban prisoners need family forgiveness or they are accused of serious crimes.”
Earlier, Afghan officials had stated that those Taliban commanders would not be released who were blamed for major attacks including the 2017 deadly truck bomb near the Germany embassy in Kabul that had killed nearly 150 people and injured over 400.
Reports suggested that several European nations had also supported Kabul over the prisoner issue.
A Taliban negotiator told Daily Times last week that the EU and Kabul administration have nothing to do with the US-Taliban agreement on prisoners.
Release of 5000 Taliban prisoners is linked to the intra-Afghan negotiations as Taliban have refused to join the negotiations as per the US-Taliban agreement signed in February.
The Afghan government has released 3500 Taliban prisoners, according Afghan officials. Taliban have freed 737 government’s prisoners and they will release 1000.
Political Deputy and Chief of Political Office of the Taliban Mullah Baradar pressed the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad in their meeting in Qatar on Thursday.
Khalilzad said on twitter on Friday that he held a video call with President Ashraf Ghani and Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation Dr Abdullah Abdullah and “emphasized the immediate step is to rapidly resolve the remaining issues surrounding the start of intra-Afghan negotiations.” He said delay provides opportunities for spoilers.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has invited Dr Abdullah to pay an official visit to Islamabad, Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq said on Sunday.
Sadiq tweeted that Dr Abdullah will visit Pakistan at mutually continent dates, adding Pakistan-Afghanistan relations are moving forward.
On his part Dr Abdullah said he received Pakistan ambassador Zahid Nasrullah Khan on Sunday and discussed the peace process and regional engagements toward a comprehensive settlement.
“I thanked him for the official invitation extended to visit Pakistan at an opportune time,” he wrote on Twitter.
