No prisoner swap until permanent truce: Mohib

KABUL prisoner would be freed until the group agreed to permanent ceasefire, the rebels insisted on release of their thousands of prisoners before the start of intra-Afghan talks.

During an exclusive interview with a foreign media outlet, Mohib said the Afghan government was not convinced nthat the Taliban believed in real peace.

“We are not sure the Taliban will believe in real peace therefore we demand permanent ceasefire to make sure they are interested in peace. We have complete preparation to defend ourselves and people. The Taliban should continue reduction in violence during intra-Afghan talks,” he said.

Referring to the US role as facilitator in release of Taliban prisoners, Mohib said the US was facilitating the peace process and has no authority to release prisoners. He stressed no prisoner would be freed until the Taliban agreed to permanent ceasefire.

But Taliban political office spokesperson Sohail Shaheen in his twitter wrote that only Taliban’s Prisoners Commission members would meet officials from Kabul administration to discuss the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners and 1,000 government prisoners.

He also wrote that the Taliban held no meeting with government delegation from Kabul which arrived few days back in Qatar.

According to the agreement, 5,000 Taliban prisoners and 1,000 government prisoners would be released on the 10^th of March, the first day of intra-Afghan negotiations.

Nh/ma