Hundreds More Captives Freed As Part Of Afghanistan-Taliban Prisoner Swap
Previously released prisoners
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 31, 2020
The Afghan government and the Taliban have released more captives as part of a major prisoner swap ahead of formal peace talks aimed at ending the 18-year war.
The prisoner exchange is part of a U.S.-Taliban agreement signed in February that called on the Afghan government to release up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners and for the militants to free around 1,000 government captives as a confidence-building measure ahead of formal peace talks.
“The Government has released 710 Taliban prisoners from Pul-e Charkhi, Parwan and other prisons in the provinces since yesterday,” National Security Council spokesman Javid Faisal tweeted late on May 30.
The releases bring to around 2,700 the total number of prisoners freed by Kabul since the U.S.-Taliban agreement was signed.
Suhail Shaheen, the spokesman of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, said on Twitter on May 30 that the militants released 73 members of the Afghan security forces in the provinces of Balkh, Kunduz, Logar, Paktia, Khost, and Paktika.
He said that the Taliban had so far released 420 government prisoners.
The prisoner releases come amid new momentum in the peace process that was on the verge of collapse following intensifying militant attacks.
In a surprise move, the Taliban announced a May 24-26 cease-fire to coincide with the Eid al-Fitr Islamic holiday.
During the cease-fire, Afghan authorities released some 1,000 Taliban prisoners — part of a pledge by the government to free up to 2,000 militants in response to the Taliban’s cease-fire move.
The developments have raised prospects of an extended cessation of hostilities and the long-delayed launch of direct talks between the government and militants over a permanent cease-fire and a future power-sharing agreement.
Since the truce ended, the militants have observed an unofficial reduction of violence, despite staging several deadly attacks on government forces.
A Taliban delegation arrived in Kabul on May 28 for talks over the prisoner swap.
Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
Islamic State Claims Blast That Killed Afghan Journalist, Technician
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 31, 2020
The Islamic State (IS) extremist group has claimed responsibility for a bomb blast that killed an Afghan journalist and a technician in a minibus carrying employees of a local television station.
At least seven people were wounded in in the capital, Kabul, in the evening rush-hour attack on May 30.
“Our colleagues Mir Wahed Shah, an economic reporter, and Shafiq Amiri, an employee in the technical department, were martyred in the incident,” said Mohammad Rafi Rafiq Sediqi, the chief executive of the private Khurshid TV.
The IS group, which battles government forces and Taliban militants, has claimed some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan in recent years. It did not give a reason for the May 30 blast.
Pictures shared on social media showed a white minibus, which was carrying 15 employees of Khurshid TV, with extensive damage to its front.
The United States, the European Union, and NATO condemned the attack.
Last year, two employees of Khurshid TV were killed and two wounded in a similar attack in Kabul.
The Taliban and IS have both attacked reporters in the past.
Last year, the Taliban warned the Afghan media to stop broadcasting what it called “anti-Taliban statements.”
Afghanistan is one of the world’s deadliest places for journalists. In January, the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee reported five journalists were killed in 2019.
The media-freedom group Reporters Without Borders said 15 Afghan journalists were killed in 2018, the deadliest year yet.
Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP
Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
Related
Afghan TV Journalist, Driver Killed in Kabul Blast
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
May 30, 2020
ISLAMABAD – Afghan officials said Saturday a bomb exploded and killed a journalist and a driver of a private television channel in the capital, Kabul. Six other people were injured.
The victims, employees of Khurshid TV, were traveling on a minibus when an improvised explosive device attached to the vehicle went off during the afternoon rush hour, officials said.
Feroz Bashari, the director of the Afghan government media and information center, denounced the violence.
“Attack on journalists is attack on freedom of speech and open media. This cannot be justified at all,” Bashari tweeted, adding the government was “seriously” investigating the incident.
The Afghan Journalist Safety Committee, a Kabul-based media monitoring group, also condemned the deadly bombing, demanding authorities bring the perpetrators to justice.
The Taliban denied its involvement in the bombing. There were no claims of responsibly.
A similar attack in August last year killed two employees of Khrushid TV and injured two others.
Taliban insurgents and Islamic State have repeatedly plotted deadly attacks on journalists in Afghanistan.
At least 15 journalists were killed in Afghanistan in 2018, making it the deadliest year for Afghan media workers, according to local and global media monitoring groups.
In 2016, a Taliban suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a bus transporting employees of the private Tolo TV channel in Kabul. The powerful blast killed seven journalists, who worked for the country’s largest media outlet.
The Taliban, while claiming credit for the attack, accused Tolo TV of running a propaganda campaign against the Islamist insurgency at the behest of U.S.-led foreign troops in Afghanistan.
1TV Afghanistan Dari News – May 30, 2020
866 New Positive COVID-19 Cases In Afghanistan
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Taliban Raid Kills 14 Afghan Border Forces
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
May 29, 2020
ISLAMABAD – Authorities in Afghanistan said Friday the Taliban has killed at least 14 border security forces and injured several others in eastern Paktia province.
The Afghan Defense Ministry said insurgents assaulted outposts in Paktia’s Dand-e-Patan district, which borders Pakistan, late Thursday, but Afghan border forces repulsed the attack and inflicted “heavy casualties” on the Taliban.
The insurgent group claimed credit for what it said was a “defensive attack” against “two security outposts the enemy” had built in Taliban-held areas. The Taliban statement confirmed the killing of two of its fighters in the overnight clashes, saying it also captured an Afghan security personnel.
Battlefield claims made by parties to the Afghan war are usually difficult to verify from independent sources.
Earlier this week, the Taliban killed at least 14 Afghan security personnel in northern Parwan and western Farah provinces.
The violence followed a temporary cease-fire the two adversaries observed during the three-day Eid festivities in Afghanistan that ended on Tuesday.
The renewed hostilities come amid a slow-moving prisoner swap between the government and the Taliban, which is aimed at paving the way for long-awaited intra-Afghan peace negotiations.
The prisoner exchange and the ensuing proposed intra-Afghan peace dialogue are part of a landmark agreement the United States signed with the Taliban in February to seek a negotiated settlement to the nearly 19-year-old conflict in Afghanistan.
The February 29 agreement stipulated that Kabul would release up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners in exchange for 1,000 Afghan security personnel being held by the insurgents.
The Afghan government so far has a freed about 2,000 Taliban inmates, while the insurgent group has set free about 350 detainees.
The Taliban announced Thursday that a 5-member insurgent “technical team” had returned to the Afghan capital for “verification and identification of prisoners” being released by the government.
Under the U.S.-Taliban pact, all American and coalition troops are supposed to leave the country by mid-2021, ending America’s longest war.
President Donald Trump renewed his intent Wednesday to pull American troops, again questioning the goal of the current U.S. military mission to Afghanistan.
“We are acting as a police force, not the fighting force that we are, in Afghanistan. After 19 years, it is time for them [Afghans] to police their own country. Bring our soldiers back home but closely watch what is going on and strike with a thunder like never before, if necessary!” Trump tweeted.
Washington already has begun to withdraw U.S. forces under the deal with the Taliban and is committed to reduce the force size to about 8,600 by mid-July this year.
In return, the Taliban has pledged counterterrorism assurances and to continue reducing violent attacks in Afghanistan. It also is required to engage in talks with other Afghan groups to negotiate peace and a power-sharing arrangement to govern the country post-foreign troop withdrawal.