Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo via video conference that the movement is ready to launch negotiations with the Afghan government, which in its turn impedes the progress by stalling the prisoner release, the Taliban said on Tuesday
KABUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2020) Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo via video conference that the movement is ready to launch negotiations with the Afghan government, which in its turn impedes the progress by stalling the prisoner release, the Taliban said on Tuesday.
The conversation has taken place amid the international reaction to bombshell reports of the Taliban taking bounties on US servicemen in Afghanistan from Russia's military intelligence service. Both Russia and the Taliban have denied the veracity of such reports.
"We are committed to starting inter-Afghan talks, as we have said before, but delaying the release of prisoners has delayed inter-Afghan talks," Baradar said, according to a statement by Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen.
He also reiterated the movement's commitment to preventing the Afghan territory from being used to undermine the US security and urged the release of the remaining Afghan detainees at the Guantanamo prison.
Pompeo, on his part, admitted that the Taliban had refrained from attacking cities and significant military bases, adding that all parties must reduce their combat activities.
Conditions for the beginning of the intra-Afghan negotiations have been outlined, among other things, in the US-Taliban peace deal signed on February 29 in the Qatari capital of Doha. The prisoner exchange process between the two sides, stipulated by the deal, is still ongoing.
