Over the release of insurgent prisoners, the Taliban rejected the Afghan government’s attempt to resolve the crisis on Wednesday, as Kabul warned it was ready to resume offensive battlefield operations.
The decree issued earlier by President Ashraf Ghani had raised hopes that Kabul’s offer to free 1,500 insurgents as a “gesture of goodwill” before talks begin, would prompt the Taliban to come to the negotiating table.
Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen stated that “5,000 prisoners should be released as a trust-building measure, and … this should be before the intra-Afghan talks”, refusing to budge from a longstanding demand of the insurgents.
Any changes amounted to “a violation” of the deal struck between the insurgents and Washington in Doha last month, he added.
Even though Kabul was not a signatory to the deal, that accord stated that up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners held by Afghan authorities “will be” released before talks, prompting an angry reaction from Ghani.
Ghani’s decree said the government would release 1,500 captives starting Saturday with plans to free another 3,500 prisoners after negotiations begin.
It was an attempt to resolve one of the long-running spats that has stymied peace talks between the insurgents and the Afghan government.
The Taliban announcement throws everything into doubt again, and each day of delay to negotiations brings more bloodshed, with the insurgents carrying out dozens of attacks across the country.
On Wednesday, the government warned it would resume offensive operations against the militants next week if violence continues, ending a unilateral partial truce put in place ahead of the talks.
“The failure of this process will be on the Taliban,” Ghani’s spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said, adding: “We have taken necessary political steps but the other side still insists on violence”.
