KABUL: Taliban militants will not take part in intra-Afghan talks until about 5,000 of their prisoners are released, a spokesman said on Monday, presenting a major possible barrier to ending the war.
The statement came as a reduction of violence period came to and end, and the Taliban said a resumption of operations against Afghan government forces could now take place.
Under an accord between the United States and the Islamist Taliban signed on Saturday, the two sides are committed to working toward the release of combat and political prisoners as a confidence-building measure.
The agreement calls for up to 5,000 jailed Taliban prisoners to be released in exchange for up to 1,000 Afghan government captives by March 10. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, not involved in the talks, has rejected that demand.
“We are fully ready for the intra-Afghan talks, but we are waiting for the release of our 5,000 prisoners,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by phone.
“If our 5,000 prisoners – 100 or 200 more or less does not matter – do not get released there will be no intra-Afghan talks.”
The United States has said that after more than 18 years of war, it hopes negotiations toward a permanent political settlement and ceasefire can start in coming days, but Western diplomats and analysts see stark challenges ahead.
Ghani said on Sunday U.S. President Donald Trump had not asked for
the release of the prisoners and that the issue of releases should be tackled as part of a comprehensive peace deal. “The Afghan government has not made any commitment to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners before the start of any potential negotiation,” Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for Ghani, said in response to the Taliban’s statements on Monday.
He added that the prisoner release “cannot be a requisite for talks”, and instead should be part of the negotiations.
A joint U.S.-Afghan government statement says the Kabul government will take part in discussions on the “feasibility of releasing significant numbers of prisoners on both sides” but does not mention the specific number or time frame.
Zabihullah said the majority of prisoners on the list of 5,000 had been captured by American forces and were held in Afghan government prisons and that they had prioritized sick and older prisoners.
U.S.-led forces ousted the hardline Islamist militants from power in 2001.
Zabihullah said a deal on a reduction in violence in the seven days leading up to Saturday’s pact in Doha had formally ended.
“As we are receiving reports that people are enjoying the reduction in violence, we don’t want to spoil their happiness, but it does not mean that we will not take our normal military activities back to the level that we were before,” he said.
“It could be any time, it could be after an hour, tonight, tomorrow or the day after.”
Two Taliban leaders who declined to be named said that the reduction in violence in practice ended on Monday.
A senior NATO defense source told Reuters that the reduction of violence period was technically over, meaning technically the Taliban could attack Afghan forces. Commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan U.S. General Scott Miller said that the United States expected the Taliban to “be very serious” about their obligations.–Agencies
