US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said that intra-Afghan talks are closer than ever before as the process of prisoner releases is successfully underway
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th June, 2020) US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said that intra-Afghan talks are closer than ever before as the process of prisoner releases is successfully underway.
"We are closer to the goal of IAN [Intra-Afghan negotiations] than ever before. All sides must work to get to the negotiations table ASAP and prevent spoilers from undermining the process & betraying the hopes and yearning of Afghan people for peace," Khalilzad wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
Khalilzad lauded the Afghan government for releasing over 3,000 Taliban prisoners and the Taliban for releasing more than 500 government prisoners.
The US and Taliban signed a peace process deal that sought to end hostilities between the two sides and accelerate the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. The deal made little obligation to the Afghan government and people, but included a clause that Kabul was to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners.
President Ashraf Ghani's protestation of the clause, not having been consulted on it beforehand, unleashed a wave of Taliban violence that left hundreds of Afghan civilians, army personnel and law enforcement officers dead. The US forces in the country stood by and did not engage in retaliatory operations as part of the deal.
