DOHA: Afghan Taliban makes key announcement over the historic peace dealwith United States.
The Afghan Taliban have handed over to the United States a list of the5,000 prisoners it has demanded must be freed to further the peace processin Afghanistan.
“There can be no dispute or doubt over the prisoners’ identity now that wehave handed over the list of prisoners to the US,” the spoksperson for thegroup’s Qatar Office Suhail Shaheen said.
“One of our conditions is that the prisoners be handed over in a secludedarea or a Taliban delegation identifies the prisoners in the jail,” thespokesperson added.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani — who had voiced his opposition to therelease of Taliban prisoners — is expected to make an announcement on thematter later on Tuesday.
An announcement regarding the formation of a team to hold talks with theTaliban is also expected.
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Earlier today, diplomats had said the US wished to hold a vote at the UNSecurity Council to approve Washington’s deal with the Taliban that wasmeant to pave the way to peace in Afghanistan.
The US military has already started withdrawing its troops as part of thepullout agreed in the February 29 agreement with the Taliban. The requestfor a UN vote came after hard negotiations that began one week ago,diplomats said on Monday.
China requested in the last draft — already revised three times — that theresolution mention “regional cooperation,” the sources told *AFP*.
