KABUL: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has announced his government has released three prominent Taliban figures in an effort to get the insurgents to free two university professors — an American and an Australian — they abducted three years ago.At a press event broadcast live on state television, Ghani told the nation the “conditional release” was a hard decision he felt he had to make in the interest of the Afghan people.The three members of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network that Ghani said were being released are Anas Haqqani, Haji Mali Khan and Hafiz Rashid. The president added they are being released “conditionally in exchange” for the two professors.By mid-afternoon, no pictures had emerged of the three figures. It was not immediately clear if they were still in Afghanistan, on their way or had already been sent — for example — to Qatar, where the Taliban maintain a political office.There was also no statement from the Taliban or the Haqqani faction holding the American and Australian hostages, or any indication if and where the two would be freed. The three Taliban figures were under the custody of the Afghan government, Ghani said, and were held at Bagram prison, an air base that also houses US troops just outside Kabul. “In a demonstration of respect for humanity by the government and nation of Afghanistan, we decided to conditionally release these three Taliban prisoners who were arrested in close co-operation with our international partners from other countries,” Ghani said.The Taliban have long demanded the release of Anas Haqqani, the younger brother of Sirajuddin, the deputy head of the Taliban and leader of the Haqqani network, often considered the strongest of the Taliban factions fighting in Afghanistan. Anas Haqqani was arrested in Bahrain in 2014 and handed to the Afghan government, which later sentenced him to death. It was not clear when his execution was supposed to take place.The two captives held by the Taliban — Kevin King, an American, and Timothy Weekes, an Australian — were abducted in 2016 outside the American University in Kabul where they both worked as teachers.In Tuesday’s address, Ghani added that the Taliban kidnapping of the two American University teachers was not representative of Islamic and Afghan traditions. “We have decided to release these three Taliban prisoners who were arrested outside of Afghanistan,” Ghani said, adding that it was meant “to facilitate direct peace negotiations”.In a statement, the American University of Afghanistan said it welcomed the development and was “encouraged to hear reports of the possible release of our two colleagues, Kevin King and Timothy Weekes”.
11-13-2019, 09:52 AM
Kabul frees three Taliban figures in ?swap? for Western captives
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