Karzai concerned over prisoner swap delay

KABUL, asking the US to honor its promises.

A day earlier, the Taliban  said their technical team would not attend “fruitless meetings” with the government as the prisoner release process was delayed on one pretext or the other.

Spokesman for Taliban’s Qatar office Suhail Shaheen wrote on his Twitter account, “ We sent a technical team from our Prisoner Commission to Kabul for the verification and identification of prisoners, a process that was to start as per an agreement signed and promises made (to us).”

A statement from ex-president Karzai office received by Pajhwok Afghan News said Karzai was deeply concerned over the fallout and wished for resumption of talks between the government and the Taliban.

The statement said Karzai also called on the US to implement its promises with the war-hit country.

Two days back, Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) head Matin Bek said that Taliban militants wanted the release of their 15 important prisoners first.

He said the 15 men had been accused of massive terrorist activities and it would not be acceptable to the Afghan government.

However, the government would set free 100 Taliban prisoners today (Wednesday), a National Security Council (NSC) official says.

pk/ma