Prisoners swap process completes, declares NSC

KABUL (Pajhwok): The National Security Council (NSC) on Thursday announced completing the prisoner swap process and said now direct talks should get under underway.

In a statement, the NSC said the Afghan commandos and Taliban remaining inmates had been released and only those rebel prisoners remained captive whose release drew international reactions.

The council said efforts were underway through diplomatic channels to release the remaining Taliban prisoners.

It said only seven Taliban prisoners remained unreleased after France and Australia objected to their release.

President Ashraf Ghani had talked with his French counterpart and Foreign Minister Hanif Atmar with his Australian and French counterparts in this regard.

On the other hand, Ahmadullah Wasiq, a member Taliban’s media team, tweeted that the remaining seven Taliban prisoners would be transferred to Qatar.

Meanwhile, first vice-president Amrullah Saleh said the remaining Taliban prisoners had been released in return for the release of commandos. He added that the Taliban released 13 commandos in southern Kandahar province.

The government’s chief negotiator Massoum Stanikzai says the negotiating team would soon start intra-Afghan talks with Taliban on behalf of the nation.

Stanikzai, who leads the team, tweeted that the declaration of the Consultative Loya Jirga was in fact a roadmap for direct peace talks in the national interest.

Stanikzai, however, did not give a specific date for the launch of the long-awaited talks.

But a well-placed source said the negotiating team was expected to travel to Doha for talks with the Taliban.

Sa/ma