US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad on Friday said he sees “no legitimate reason” to delay the intra-Afghan negotiations that are expected in near future but have been postponed over differences on the release of high-value Taliban prisoners by the Afghan government.
On August 9, nearly 3,400 Afghan delegates at a three-day Loya Jirga, the grand council, approved the release of 400 high-value prisoners of the Taliban whose release was the main hurdle for the intra-Afghan negotiations.
Two days after that, the government released 80 of the prisoners, but conditioned the release of the remaining to the release of at least 20 Afghan commandos in Taliban custody, according to officials.
Khalilzad made the remarks in a tweet on the death of a high-ranking education official, Abdul Baqi Amin, who was killed in an explosion in Kabul on Wednesday.
“The right tribute to Dr Amin is for all sides to reduce violence and immediately start intra-Afghan negotiations,” Khalilzad said, adding that “there is no legitimate reason for delay.”
Khalilzad said Amin’s “death at the hands of spoilers who seek to delay and derail Afghan peace is tragic.”
Sources within the government on the intra-Afghan negotiations will kick off three days after the completion of the prisoners’ swap between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
Najia Anwari, spokesperson for State Ministry for Peace Affairs said there are consultations about the release of the controversial Taliban prisoners and the release of the Afghan government hostages held by the Taliban.
“Following this issue (completion of prisoner swap) and after the release of the hostages of the Afghan security and defense forces kept with the Taliban, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan will enter into dialogue with the Taliban group,” she said.
According to government officials, France and Australia countries are opposing the release of six of the inmates who are accused of killing citizens of those countries.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also said that talks are underway with Australian and French authorities about the release of six Taliban prisoners.
According to government data, out of the 400 prisoners in question, 156 of them have been sentenced to death, 105 of them are accused of murder, 34 of them are accused of kidnapping that led to murder, 51 of them are accused of drug smuggling, 44 of them are on the blacklist of the Afghan government and its allies, six of them are accused of assorted other crimes, four are accused of unspecified crimes.
The list of 5,000 prisoners was given to the Afghan government by the Taliban to be released ahead of the intra-Afghan negotiations, which are now expected to be held in Doha.
