Khalilzad: Prisoners’ exchange is part of the US-Taliban agreement

Zalmay Khalilzad insisted that exchanging prisoners was a part of the US-Taliban deal, and Washington would try to remove every hurdle on the way to the Intra-Afghan talks; however, the presidential palace underlines that the release of the Taliban prisoners before the Intra-Afghan talks is not feasible.

The US special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation is meeting Afghan leaders in Kabul. Khalilzad called the continuation of the violence a boundary against peace. Through tweets, Khalilzad talked about the US commitment to easing up the peace talks.

Khalilzad tweeted, “The US is committed to facilitating prisoner exchange, agreed in both US-Taliban Agreement & US-Afghanistan Joint Declaration. We will support each side to release significant numbers.”

In another tweet, he said, “We must act on all fronts to clear the road of obstacles that slows down our progress toward intra-Afghan negotiations. I once again call on all Afghans to rise to the occasion, put country first and not to lose this historic opportunity.”

The Presidential Palace, however, has a different viewpoint.

Latif Mahmoud, the deputy spokesperson of the Presidential Palace said, “People expect the Taliban to leave killing and start negotiations with the government. Releasing prisoners will be a part of the agenda of the Intra-Afghan talks.” 

This comes as the Wall Street Journal, based on a source at Arg, wrote that President Ghani refused to meet Khalilzad on Wednesday. This was rejected by Mahmoud though.

Noorullah Jalili, leader of Hezb-e-Madarwatan, said, “Both the laterals should use this opportunity and release the prisoners.”

Khalilzad has met Abdullah Abdullah, Hamid Karzai, and other political figures, lately.

Sources in the office of CE indicate that Abdullah Abdullah agreed on releasing the Taliban prisoners.

Omid Maisam, Abdulah’s deputy spokesperson said, “In this meeting, both the laterals talked over peace and the election’s crisis. Khalilzad applauded Abdullah for his goodwill on peace.”

Based on the US-Taliban agreement, the Intra-Afghan talks is supposed to start in five days, however, President Ghani not only disagreed with releasing 5000 prisoners of the Taliban but also hasn’t reached to an agreement with the political figures to form the negotiating delegation.