By KHAAMA PRESS – Sun Sep 16 2018, 2:34 pm
The Taliban group will likely demand the release of a senior Haqqani network leader, Anas Haqqani, and scores of other Taliban inmates for the revival of peace talks, it has been reported.
Sources within the Taliban ranks have told NBC News that the youngest son of the feared Haqqani terror network’s founder is among hundreds of prisoners whom the Taliban is demanding be released as part of an upcoming round of talks with the United States.
“This meeting with the U.S. authorities would either help pave the way for more meaningful talks or stop them forever,” a Taliban commander in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province said on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media. “If they are sincere in talks in the future, they would accept our proposal for a prisoners’ exchange.”
This comes as sources privy of the development within the Taliban ranks had earlier told Reuters that the leaders of the group were meeting to discuss the makeup of the three- or four-person delegation and the subjects to be discussed.
The sources had said the Taliban would like to discuss an exchange of prisoners and could hold another meeting soon if the United States showed seriousness in talks by releasing prisoners.
“This meeting will determine the future talks and we would see if the U.S. is serious and sincere in negotiation,” one of the officials involved had said.
“We would hand over a list of prisoners languishing in jails across Afghanistan. If they set free our prisoners then we would meet again for another great cause,” the sources added.www.khaama.com/taliban-likely-to-demand-release-of-anas-haqqani-for-the-revival-of-peace-talks-05968/
Taliban call for closure of US bases, prisoner release
report in Dawn, Sept 17, 2018
WASHINGTON: Taliban leaders are demanding closure of US bases in Afghanistan and release of hundreds of their prisoners for continuing peace talks with the United States, the US media reported on Saturday.Zalmay Khalilzad, a former US ambassador recently named as a special adviser for Afghanistan peace talks, arrived in the United Arab Emirates this week for the next round of US-Taliban talks, NBC News reported.
The release of hundreds of Taliban-linked prisoners and the status of US bases in Afghanistan were among the key issues Taliban leaders want to negotiate in US-backed talks to end the war in Afghanistan.
“This meeting with the US authorities would either help pave the way for more meaningful talks or stop them forever,” said one of the four senior Taliban officials who spoke to NBC News.
Other US media outlets, however, reported that the Afghan government was unlikely to concede to the request without a commensurate concession from the Taliban.
“The number of US bases maintained…is also a point of contention; the US wants two, but the Taliban want zero. The Taliban’s main `reason for war, their casus belli, if you will, is the occupation,” retired Col Christopher Kolenda, a former Pentagon adviser who has negotiated with the Taliban, explained in an interview with VOA.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1433427/taliban-call-for-closure-of-us-bases-prisoner-release
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