Daily Times

A three-member delegation of the Taliban reached Kabul on Tuesday to monitor the release of prisoners that could pave the way for the start of the intra-Afghan dialogue.

The proposed talks, involving Afghan parties to the conflict, are central to the US-Taliban agreement reached in Qatar on February 29, but could not start as the Afghan government had refused to release Taliban prisoners before March 10.

Later Kabul had announced to set free 100 Taliban prisoners on March 31 but failed again to release them, giving no reason.

A total of 5000 Taliban detainees were scheduled to be released by March 10 and Taliban would also free 1000 prisoners of the other side in accordance with the Taliban-US agreement. A Taliban official told Daily Times a team of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) took the Taliban officials Abdul Fatah, Akhtar Muhammad and Ibrahim from Arghistan district in Kandahar on Tuesday. Earlier Taliban announced a 15-member team to visit Kabul and Bagram to verify the Taliban prisoners and help in their release. However, lockdown in Kabul affected visit of a larger Taliban team. This is the first time a Taliban team arrived in Kabul in nearly 20 years since the US military toppled the Taliban government in 2001. The Taliban delegation will be taken to Bagram to verify if the prisoners will be released in accordance with a list shared with the US authorities during the talks in Qatar.

Meanwhile, former Afghan chief executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah announced his support for a government’s negotiation team for talks with the Taliban.

Abdullah, who has declared himself as the president, had earlier stated that the “negotiating team will need to be representative of the whole nation.”

But on Tuesday he changed his stance about the team and said the “formation of an inclusive negotiation team is an important step toward facilitating intra-Afghan negotiations. Our lasting position is that a fair, dignified and sustainable peace is the priority of all Afghan citizens.”

“The negotiation team represents the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and our national interests. We still have time to discuss the team’s reporting mechanism and the source of its authorities,” the Afghan leader said in a series of tweets.

Abdullah said he believes that the commencement and continuation of negotiations will provide further opportunity to ensure a more comprehensive representation, given the importance of decisions that are to be made as the process goes ahead. Talking about the political crisis he said he and President Ashraf Ghani have reached no satisfactory agreement to resolve the political crisis in the wake of what he claimed “rigged presidential election, we are committed to making sure that it does not overshadow peace efforts.”

US Secretary Pompeo criticized Dr Abdullah and President Ghani last month over their failure to end political crisis, posing threat to the US interests and harming the peace process. Pompeo, who visited Kabul on March 23 also announced a cut of one billion dollars assistance to Afghanistan in 2020 and another one billion dollars in 2001. Former National Security Adviser Haneef Atmar also welcomed the negotiation team and said the team is comprised of experienced personalities who are committed to peace and Islamic democratic system. Atmar said he is ready for cooperation in all negotiation processes.

Taliban had rejected the team and said the Afghan government has “failed in putting together an effective, pro-peace and inclusive team.”

Taliban insist the team must be agreed upon by all effective Afghan sides so that it can represent all sides to reach true and lasting peace, however, “majority of other sides have rejected the current announced team.” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen did not comment on Dr Abdullah’s support for the team.