Government negotiating team contradicts the US-Taliban agreement

It comes as the Afghan government Friday officially announced names of the intra-Afghan dialogue negotiating team led by Masoum Stanakzai.

The Taliban however, does not agree with the formation of the team saying in a statement that the Afghan government could play the role of one of the parties around the negotiation table – introducing the negotiating team by Kabul goes against the agreement made with the US.

The statement adds that the peace negotiating team should be all-inclusive, one that represents all sides.

The Taliban has revealed names of its negotiating team comprised of 10 people pronounced as follows:

Mawlawi Ziauddin Waqif, Mawlawi Abdul Hameed Akhondzada, Hafiz Abdul Qadeer, Mawlawi Abdul Zahir Noman, Mawlawi Abdul Fatah Fatih, Mawlawi Abdul Hadi Akhondzada, Mawlawi Abdullah Rabit, Mawlawi Sediqullah Khabib, Zabihullah Noorani and Mohammad Nasim Hilal.

The Taliban’s team is going to visit Kabul to negotiate the prisoner releases.

Jawid Faisal, the spokesperson for the National Security Council, says, “The day is not exact. They will soon come and the negotiations will start.”

In the meantime, the NSC says that the Taliban doesn’t have the 1000 Afghan government prisoners; therefore, the group has intensified its violence to take more captives and meet the count.

The spokesperson Jawid Faisal, says, “The Taliban does not have any prison. The group only has places where they torture the captives; therefore, the group has suddenly increased its attacks to take more captives and meet the list. The Taliban is damaging the peace process.”

Moeen Tsamkanai, a political expert, says, “The government does not have information on its prisoners.”

One more thing that the government has conditionally been stating is that the Taliban will have to guarantee that once the prisoners released will not return to battlefields.