Taliban offers to free American for 5 operatives held at Guantanamo
Source: Agencies |
June 21, 2013, Friday
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THE Afghan Taliban are ready to free a US soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay as a conciliatory gesture, a senior spokesman for the group said yesterday.
The offer to exchange US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl for the Afghan detainees came as an Afghan government spokesman said President Hamid Karzai is now willing to join planned peace talks with the Taliban - provided that the Taliban flag and nameplate are removed from the militant group's newly opened political office in Doha, the capital of the Gulf state of Qatar. Karzai also wants a formal letter from the United States supporting the Afghan government.
Bergdahl, 27, is the only known American soldier held captive from the Afghan war. He disappeared from his base in southeastern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009, and is believed held in Pakistan.
Taliban spokesman Shaheen Suhail said yesterday that Bergdahl "is, as far as I know, in good condition."
Suhail did not elaborate on Bergdahl's current whereabouts. Among the five prisoners the Taliban have consistently requested are Khairullah Khairkhwa, a former Taliban governor of Herat, and Mullah Mohammed Fazl, a former top Taliban military commander, both of whom have been held for more than a decade.
The prisoner exchange is the first item on the Taliban's agenda before even opening peace talks, said Suhail, who is a top Taliban figure and served as first secretary at the Afghan Embassy in Pakistan before the Taliban government's ouster in 2001.
"First has to be the release of detainees," Suhail said when asked about Bergdahl. "Yes. It would be an exchange. Then step by step, we want to build bridges of confidence to go forward."
On Wednesday in Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US had "never confirmed" any specific meeting schedule with Taliban representatives.
Prospective peace talks were thrown into question on Wednesday when Karzai became infuriated by the Taliban's move to cast their new office in Doha as a rival embassy. The Taliban held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday in which they hoisted their flag and a banner with the name they used while in power more than a decade ago: "Political Office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan."
Later, the Taliban replaced the sign to read simply: "Political office of the Taliban."
The Taliban have long refused to talk to Karzai's representatives but the opening of the office was seen as a first step.
Suhail said the Taliban are insistent that they talk first to the United States. "First we talk to the Americans about those issues concerning the Americans and us (because) for those issues implementation is only in the hands of the Americans," he said.
"We want foreign troops to be pulled out of Afghanistan," he added. "If there are troops in Afghanistan then there will be a continuation of the war."
The offer to exchange US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl for the Afghan detainees came as an Afghan government spokesman said President Hamid Karzai is now willing to join planned peace talks with the Taliban - provided that the Taliban flag and nameplate are removed from the militant group's newly opened political office in Doha, the capital of the Gulf state of Qatar. Karzai also wants a formal letter from the United States supporting the Afghan government.
Bergdahl, 27, is the only known American soldier held captive from the Afghan war. He disappeared from his base in southeastern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009, and is believed held in Pakistan.
Taliban spokesman Shaheen Suhail said yesterday that Bergdahl "is, as far as I know, in good condition."
Suhail did not elaborate on Bergdahl's current whereabouts. Among the five prisoners the Taliban have consistently requested are Khairullah Khairkhwa, a former Taliban governor of Herat, and Mullah Mohammed Fazl, a former top Taliban military commander, both of whom have been held for more than a decade.
The prisoner exchange is the first item on the Taliban's agenda before even opening peace talks, said Suhail, who is a top Taliban figure and served as first secretary at the Afghan Embassy in Pakistan before the Taliban government's ouster in 2001.
"First has to be the release of detainees," Suhail said when asked about Bergdahl. "Yes. It would be an exchange. Then step by step, we want to build bridges of confidence to go forward."
On Wednesday in Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US had "never confirmed" any specific meeting schedule with Taliban representatives.
Prospective peace talks were thrown into question on Wednesday when Karzai became infuriated by the Taliban's move to cast their new office in Doha as a rival embassy. The Taliban held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday in which they hoisted their flag and a banner with the name they used while in power more than a decade ago: "Political Office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan."
Later, the Taliban replaced the sign to read simply: "Political office of the Taliban."
The Taliban have long refused to talk to Karzai's representatives but the opening of the office was seen as a first step.
Suhail said the Taliban are insistent that they talk first to the United States. "First we talk to the Americans about those issues concerning the Americans and us (because) for those issues implementation is only in the hands of the Americans," he said.
"We want foreign troops to be pulled out of Afghanistan," he added. "If there are troops in Afghanistan then there will be a continuation of the war."
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