...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
group will likely demand the release of a senior Haqqani network
leader, Anas Haqqani, and scores of other Taliban inmates for the revival of peace talks, it has been reported.Sources within the Taliban ranks have told NBC News that the youngest son of the feared Haqqani terror network’s founder is among hundreds of prisoners whom the Taliban is demanding be released as part of an upcoming round of talks with the United States.
"This meeting with the U.S. authorities would either help pave the way for more meaningful talks or stop them forever," a Taliban Überstürmbannführer in Afghanistan’s Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
Province said on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media. "If they are sincere in talks in the future, they would accept our proposal for a prisoners’ exchange."
This comes as sources privy of the development within the Taliban ranks had earlier told Rooters that the leaders of the group were meeting to discuss the makeup of the three- or four-person delegation and the subjects to be discussed.
The sources had said the Taliban would like to discuss an exchange of prisoners and could hold another meeting soon if the United States showed seriousness in talks by releasing prisoners.
"This meeting will determine the future talks and we would see if the U.S. is serious and sincere in negotiation," one of the officials involved had said.
"We would hand over a list of prisoners languishing in jails across Afghanistan. If they set free our prisoners then we would meet again for another great cause," the sources added.
| ToloNews adds: |
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi..., said that the next round of discussions will be held very soon and deal with a possible prisoner exchange, NBC said.
But despite the Taliban’s tough talk, it is unlikely the US-backed Afghan government will agree to releasing such a senior figure in the insurgency without major concessions from the other side, experts said.
In Washington, the State Department said no talks were scheduled and declined to comment on whether a potential prisoner swap was on the table, NBC reported. On Tuesday, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told news hounds, "We’re ready to work with the people of Afghanistan, the government of Afghanistan, and to talk to the Taliban all together to bring an end to the conflict."
In recent months, the US has stepped up attempts to broker peace talks between the Afghan government and the Afghan Taliban, the Death Eater group ousted after sheltering the late Osama bin Laden
... who doesn't live anywhere anymore...as he plotted the 9/11 attacks. Since the 2001 US-led invasion, more than 2,400 American personnel and tens of thousands of Afghans have died.
President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
’s impatience with the 17-year-old war has prompted US diplomats and commanders to gamble on a bid to kick-start peace negotiations, including holding direct talks with the Taliban, current and former US officials have told NBC News.
A former US official with extensive experience in Afghanistan said that the administration sees a potential window of opportunity to advance peace talks, but the effort was still at an early stage.
"There are serious indications that there are internal discussions inside the Taliban," he said of their response to the offer for reconciliation, despite the group’s position that the Afghan government is illegitimate. The former official spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions.
NBC reported Anas Haqqani, son of Jalaluddin Haqqani
...founder and still titular head of the Haqqani Network. Jalaluddin is old and tough and very crafty, one of the few Pashtun warlords who was worth spit...who founded the Death Eater group under his name in the 1970s, tops the list of those the Taliban is saying must be released, according to the Taliban officials.
Anas Haqqani has been in Afghan custody since October 2014 when US security forces nabbed him while en route to Qatar from Bahrain.
| And from Dawn: |
Zalmay Khalilzad, a former US ambassador recently named as a special adviser for Afghanistan peace talks, arrived in the United Arab Emirates this week for the next round of US-Taliban talks, NBC News reported.
“This meeting with the US authorities would either help pave the way for more meaningful talks or stop them forever,” said one of the four senior Taliban officials who spoke to NBC News.
Other US media outlets, however, reported that the Afghan government was unlikely to concede to the request without a commensurate concession from the Taliban.
“The number of US bases maintained…is also a point of contention; the US wants two, but the Taliban want zero. The Taliban’s main `reason for war, their casus belli, if you will, is the occupation,” retired Col Christopher Kolenda, a former Pentagon adviser who has negotiated with the Taliban, explained in an interview with VOA.