ISLAMABAD: Afghan Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on Tuesday that formal intra-Afghan negotiations, scheduled for today, would not take place as Taliban prisoners had not yet been released as part of a peace pact signed between the United States and the Taliban last month.
A prisoner release is a key component of the agreement between the United States and the Taliban that allows US forces and NATO troops to withdraw from Afghanistan to end more than 18 years of war.
The Taliban demand for the release of 5,000 prisoners as a confidence-building measure has been the most contentious part of the US-Taliban deal signed in February. President Ashraf Ghani, earlier in March, rejected the demand, saying the Afghan government made no such commitment.
In a speech after being sworn in, Ghani said that he would issue an order on Tuesday about the 5,000 Taliban prisoners the militant group has demanded be released in order to begin talks with the Afghan government.
“Yes intra-Afghan negotiations will not start on March 10 because our prisoners have not been freed,” Afghan Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Arab News from Doha, where the Taliban have an office.
“Americans have a fundamental responsibility regarding release of prisoners and we hope they fulfill their responsibility,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had told Arab News on Monday.
According to an audio file shared with Arab News by a member of the Taliban prisoner committee, a Taliban detainee at the Bagram prison had said American and Afghan officials had accelerated biometric data recording of Taliban prisoners in preparation for prisoner releases.
“Earlier only Afghan officials were carrying out biometric of selected prisoners in cells but since Monday the US and Afghan security officials have started biometric of all detainees,” the detainee can be heard saying in the Pashto language audio. Arab News could not independently verify the identity of the speaker.
Another delay in the launch of the intra-Afghan dialogue is that the Afghan government has not yet made public the names of its negotiation team.
“The list has not been shared with us,” Shaheen said.
Ghani had said at his inauguration ceremony on Monday that the negotiating team had been finalized in consultation with influential personalities, members of civil society, women, youth and religious scholars, and would be announced on Tuesday.
