According to Mohammad Sohail Shaheen of the Qatari political office of the movement, the dialogue will start if 5,000 prisoners of Taliban supporters are released.
The Taliban will continue fighting against official Kabul until their supporters are released in accordance with the terms of a peace agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban (banned in Russia). This was announced to TASS on Wednesday by an official representative of the Qatari political office of the movement Mohammad Sohail Shaheen, commenting on the cessation of negotiations on the exchange of prisoners with the Afghan government.
“We want the launch of inter-Afghan negotiations to achieve a settlement and truce. But they [the Government in Kabul] do not release prisoners, thus creating obstacles to the launch of inter-Afghan negotiations. Thus, until there is an agreement between us, of course, the fighting will continue”, – he said.
The dialogue will start if 5,000 Taliban prisoners are released, he said.
“During the inter-Afghan negotiations, we will discuss Afghanistan’s future political road map and a comprehensive and permanent truce”, – he concluded.
On Tuesday, the Taliban announced the end of talks with the Afghan government on prisoner exchange as the Taliban’s release continues to be delayed. Earlier, Afghan television channel Tolo News reported that the first exchange of Taliban prisoners for Afghan soldiers will take place April 2. It was planned to release 100 radical supporters from prison. At the same time, the Taliban have pledged to transfer 20 captured soldiers to Afghan authorities.
A peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban was signed in Doha on February 29. According to the agreements, the inter-Afghan consultations were to begin on 10 March. However, it was stipulated that as part of confidence-building measures, up to 5,000 Taliban supporters and up to a thousand people held by the radicals should be released by the time the inter-Afghan talks began.