Taliban warn against attacks on freed prisoners going home
Members of the Taliban handover their weapons and join in the Afghan government's reconciliation and reintegration program in Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Ahead of an upcoming release of Taliban detainees held in Afghan prisons, the insurgent group warned the government in Kabul on Tuesday against any attacks on those released, saying such incidents would jeopardise the peace talks.
A Taliban spokesman said there have been at least 11 such attacks in the past several monthsinstances when freed Taliban figures were killed, harassed and re-arrested by government forces.
Kabul officials denied unwarranted attacks on freed Taliban. The prisoner release is part of a deal the insurgents signed with the United States earlier this year. A final 400 Taliban prisoners remain in government prisons.
Over the weekend in Kabul, an Afghan traditional council, known as the Loya Jirga, agreed to free the final 400 imprisoned Taliban, paving the way for an early start to negotiations between Afghanistan's warring sides.
The council agreed to an immediate release of Taliban prisoners but by Tuesday, they had not been freed. Negotiations between Kabul's political leadership and the Taliban are expected to begin within weeks and will be held in the Mideast state of Qatar, where the Taliban maintain a political office. The Taliban said the talks could begin within a week of the final prisoner releases.
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Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen warned that attacks on newly freed prisoners will drive them back to the battlefield despite orders from their leaders to stay at home, with their families.Attacks on their homes will ?make it impossible for them to stay in their homes," Shaheen said.
''Such incidents have happened that they have been re-arrested and also killed," she added.
In recent months, both sides have freed prisoners in line with the deal the Taliban signed with Washington on February 29 to bring an end to decades of war. The government was to free 5,000and has already released all but the last 400. The Taliban freed the 1,000 members of the government forces and Afghan officials they had held captive.