BELFAST: Hundreds of Taliban fighters who were freed by the Afghangovernment have reportedly returned to the battlefront, said Foreign Policyquoting a yet-unreleased paper for the Afghan Peace Dialogue Project atQueen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
“Taliban prisoners released by the Afghan government as part of a dealbrokered by the United States aimed at ending almost 20 years of war arereturning to the battlefield as commanders and fighters, in directcontravention of pledges made by the insurgents to the White House,” itsaid.
The paper, authored by Taliban experts Michael Semple and Felix Kuehn saidthat former Taliban prisoners were “participating in combat, being killedfighting, being taken prisoner and one case of an ex-prisoner beinginvolved with revenge assassinations.”
They profiled 108 Taliban prisoners and found that 68% of them, that is 74fighters, had already “re-integrated into the Taliban” and taken activeroles in the war or were in Taliban groups that were preparing to resumefighting.
Some of the released detainees had also taken up positions as shadowdistrict military chiefs or political heads.
Semple and Kuehn write: “A number of ex-prisoners have been appointed todirect command positions since their release… The appointment ofex-prisoners as uluswals — which are essentially in charge of militaryaffairs and oversee civilian matters at a district level — is nowwidespread.”
A further 8% of the interviewees wished to return to the battle but were“being held back by family opposition,” mostly by their wives. A further27, or 24%, “will categorically not re-join the conflict” for variousreasons, mainly because they wished to return to civilian life.
Foreign Policy spoke to a senior Afghan official who said the report’sfindings “comport with what we have observed.”
The research appears to confirm doubts about the value of Taliban promisesto reduce violence, keep their men off the battlefield once released fromprison and comply with other conditions in their agreement with the U.S.,including renouncing ties with the Al Qaeda.
Critics of the deal suspect the Taliban are interested only in a return topower that will facilitate their ultimate goal of establishing an Islamistgovernment, hand in hand with Al Qaeda.
These reports come as the Afghan government prepares to sit for talks withthe Taliban and has confirmed that the prisoner exchange process has beencompleted.
Courtesy: (reporterly.net)