KABUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2019) The exchange of prisoners with the Afghan government has been delayed as the Taliban refuses to hand over the Western hostages while their affiliates remain captive, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Sputnik Thursday.
The Afghan government previously announced it would release one of the senior leaders of the Haqqani insurgent group, Anas Haqqani, as well as key Taliban commanders Hafiz Rashid and Mali Khan, in exchange for US and Australian academics, who were kidnapped in 2016.
"Since the three detainees had not been transferred to the designated location, we have not allowed the release of the two foreign lecturers," Mujahid said.
Another Taliban source told Sputnik that the Haqqani network prisoners were flown to Qatar, where they were set to be handed over to the Qatar authorities on command, but since the exchange was put on hold, they were returned to the Bagram prison in Afghanistan.
US national Kevin King and Australian national Timothy Weeks were kidnapped by the Taliban in 2016 in Kabul, where they worked at the American University.
Releasing Haqqani was something that the Afghan president formerly pledged to never do. Anas Haqqani was arrested in 2014 and is the youngest son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of the Haqqani militant network operating under the Taliban's umbrella.
