KABUL – Taliban leaders are demanding closure of US bases in Afghanistanand release of hundreds of their prisoners for continuing peace talks withthe United States, the US media reported on Saturday.

Zalmay Khalilzad, a former US ambassador recently named as a specialadviser for Afghanistan peace talks, arrived in the United Arab Emiratesthis week for the next round of US-Taliban talks, NBC News reported.

The release of hundreds of Taliban-linked prisoners and the status of USbases in Afghanistan were among the key issues Taliban leaders want tonegotiate in US-backed talks to end the war in Afghanistan.

“This meeting with the US authorities would either help pave the way formore meaningful talks or stop them forever,” said one of the four seniorTaliban officials who spoke to NBC News.

Other US media outlets, however, reported that the Afghan government wasunlikely to concede to the request without a commensurate concession fromthe Taliban.

“The number of US bases maintained…is also a point of contention; the USwants two, but the Taliban want zero. The Taliban’s main `reason for war,their casus belli, if you will, is the occupation,” retired Col ChristopherKolenda, a former Pentagon adviser who has negotiated with the Taliban,explained in an interview with VOA.