April 7, 2020
The Taliban just snapped off ongoing talks with the Kabul government over a prisoner exchange – a key factor in peace talks orchestrated by Washington after it agreed on pulling out its troops from Afghanistan.
Suhail Shaheen – spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, tweeted that their technical team would not participate in meetings anymore, terming these inconclusive. Suhail was of the view that Afghan government is using delaying tactics only.
The late February pact between the United States and the Taliban, under which US-led coalition forces will withdraw in exchange for security guarantees from Taliban, seems to be the only window of opportunity to end the 18-year war.
It is pertinent to note that, peace has strings attached to talks between the US-backed Afghan government and the Taliban, and prisoner exchange is a major confidence building measure on both sides, to take the process further.
However, a spokesman for the government said it would maintain its work on the prisoner release plan. “We ask the Taliban to not sabotage the process by making excuses now,” said Javid Faisal, a spokesman for the National Security Council in Kabul.
The Taliban suspension of the talks could lead to escalation in violence, which in turn could threaten the plan to withdraw US troops, a major objective of President Donald Trump.
A three-member Taliban team arrived in Kabul last month from Qatar to begin the prisoner exchange process. Last week, Afghan officials said they would release 100 Taliban prisoners who were sick or over the age of 50.
In exchange, the Taliban were expected to free 20 members of the Afghan security forces. Eventually both sides would aim to release the 6,000 prisoners they are holding.
