The Taliban releasing US and Australian hostages in a prisoner swap with the Afghan government offers hope that the intra-Afghan peace talks will end in success, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th November, 2019) The Taliban releasing US and Australian hostages in a prisoner swap with the Afghan government offers hope that the intra-Afghan peace talks will end in success, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on Tuesday."Today, the United States welcomes the release of Professors Kevin King and Timothy Weeks," Pompeo said. "Both men were successfully recovered this morning, are in the care of the US military, and will soon be reunited with their loved ones. Along with a reduction of violence in Kabul during the past few days, the above developments give us hope for the success of intra-Afghan peace negotiations, which the United States stands ready to support."
Earlier on Tuesday, a Taliban source told Sputnik that two Western university lecturers held hostage since 2016 have been handed over to foreign forces in Afghanistan's Nawbahar district of Zabul.
The information comes just hours after a Taliban source told Sputnik that three high-profile Taliban-linked prisoners were flown to Qatar by the Afghan government in anticipation of the exchange.
Pompeo said the Taliban have indicated the release of the two professors is intended as a goodwill gesture and the United States welcomes it. In addition, the United States welcomes the Taliban's impending release of ten Afghan prisoners and the Afghan government's release of three Taliban prisoners.
"We see these developments as hopeful signs that the Afghan war, a terrible and costly conflict that has lasted 40 years, may soon conclude through a political settlement," Pompeo said.
Pompeo also commended Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani and the Afghan government for their efforts to make the prisoner release possible.
Ghani said in a statement that he talked with Pompeo over the telephone last night and assured him if the Taliban continues the campaign of violence after the prisoner exchanges, joint action would be taken against them.
The prisoner swap comes one week after an initial attempt to exchange prisoners fell through for unknown reasons.
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.
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. Releasing Haqqani was something the Afghan president formerly pledged they he would never do.
