The US diplomatic effort is focused on persuading the Taliban to settle for the release of 2,000 prisoners by the Afghan government and not wait for full swap before intra-Afghan talks, a former Pakistani envoy to the United Nations has said.
In an article published by Dawn newspaper, Maleeha Lodhi said that the aim has been for the intra-Afghan negotiations to start in early May.
She, however, said that this seems an ambitious goal given the wide gap and opposing interests of the two Afghan parties.
“The dispute over the prisoner issue is more than just that. It reflects both sides’ unwillingness to concede anything significant to each other and portends the formidable difficulties that lie ahead even if this is resolved,” Lodhi said.
The US-Taliban deal stipulated the release of up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners and 1,000 Afghan government prisoners before March 10 when intra-Afghan talks were scheduled to begin.
The government has released 950 prisoners so far as part of a presidential decree that expects the release of 1,500 prisoners.
President Ghani has said that more prisoners can be released as intra-Afghan talks begin.
