KABUL – Afghan Taliban Guantanamo Bay prisoners have become their chiefnegotiators with US.
Five members of the Afghan Taliban who were freed from the U.S. militaryprison at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for captured U.S. Army Sgt. BoweBergdahl have joined the insurgent group’s political office in Qatar,Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
They will now be among Taliban representatives negotiating for peace inAfghanistan, a sign some negotiators in Kabul say indicates the Taliban’sdesire for a peace pact.
Others fear the five, all of whom were close to the insurgent group’sfounder and hard-line leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, bring with them the sameultra-conservative interpretation of Islam that characterized the group’sfive-year rule that ended in 2001 with the U.S.-led invasion.
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“The Taliban are bringing back their old generation, which means theTaliban have not changed their thinking or their leadership,” said HarounMir, political analyst in the Afghan capital. “What we are more worriedabout is if tomorrow the Taliban say ‘we are ready to negotiate,’ who willrepresent Kabul? That is the big challenge because the government is sodivided, not just ideologically but on ethnic lines.”
