Eleven Taliban prisoners, including two provincial governors, were released from Bagram detention facility on Sunday. The inmates have reportedly been freed in exchange for three Indian engineers of a power plant who were kidnapped in May 2018 from northern Baghlan Province, based on an agreement made between the Taliban and US Special Representative for Afghan Peace Zalmay Khalilzad during his recent visit to Islamabad. Among the freed prisoners were Taliban’s shadow governors for Kunar and Nimroz provinces. Afghan government is yet to officially comment on the prisoner swap, but the deputy foreign minister, Idris Zaman, told press conference in Kabul after the release of the inmates that the main agenda of US-Taliban meeting in Islamabad was the inmate exchange deal. He also revealed that Americans and Taliban had not discussed the prospects for resumption of peace talks in the meeting.
Afghan government’s silence over the deal is worrisome. It has to clarify its position whether the prisoners were released in coordination with Afghan officials, or if Americans have retaken control of the Bagram prison, one of the main bones of contention and frosty relations between Americans and former President Hamid Karzai during his second term. Calling the jail a “Taliban-producing factory” because innocent Afghans were being tortured into hating their country, President Karzai wrangled with American officials for years over handover of the prison to Afghan government. Afghan people should know if the National Unity Government has relinquished control of the notorious prison back to Americans as part of its extremely compliant and soft stance towards the West, especially the United States. Americans don’t have the right to establish prisons or imprison Afghans as per their agreement with President Karzai’s administration, and if they have retaken control of the Bagram prison, it is a brazen violation of that agreement, as well as a huge setback of the current government.
To stand solidly on its own feet, Afghanistan needs to take ownership of its affairs than entrust them to foreigners. The torture and mistreatment of prisoners in jails held by foreigners was one of the factors that has protracted the conflict. An overwhelming majority of those released from these prisons have returned to the battlefield. Afghan government must have learned lessons from the bitter experience of the past, and should not create further barriers in the path of Afghanistan towards achieving self-reliance by giving foreigners a free hand in its affairs.