Three Afghans accused of involvement in the killing of US troops in so-called insider attacks are among 320 “hard-core” Taliban prisoners that the Afghan government is set to release, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.
The United States has not publicly objected to the expected release of the three prisoners; instead, negotiators are exploring other options, including temporarily placing the inmates under house arrest, the report said citing unidentified officials.
Earlier, France and Australia publicly asked the Afghan government not to release Taliban prisoners convicted of attacks against their citizens.
A senior Afghan government official said he was “surprised” by Washington’s support for the release of Taliban prisoners linked to the killings of US and foreign forces. But he said the consensus among Afghan government officials is that US Afghan policy is now largely being dictated by the Trump administration’s desire to show voters ahead of the November presidential election that he is ending the war in Afghanistan.
“We understand the importance of the election, of the campaign, but our only question is, ‘At what cost?’ ” said the official. It is unclear how many Americans have been killed by the three prisoners accused of involvement in insider attacks against them.
A total of 63 US troops in Afghanistan have died in insider and green-on-blue attacks since the start of the conflict, according to iCasualties.org.
The Afghan government has said it will release the remaining Taliban prisoners once the group frees commandos it holds.
Taliban leaders said they are investigating the government’s “claim” the commandos are in their custody and said if the commandos are located, they will be released after direct talks begin, Washington Post reported.
