Release Of Bowe Bergdahl Could Lead To Afghan Peace

Hopes are revived that the release of Bowe Bergdahl will lead to further talks toward peace.

The deal may bolster Taliban moderates, who favour trying to negotiate an end to years of war, in their arguments with hardliners, who want only to fight. “It could help a bit, as it shows that you can actually get something tangible from talking,” said one western diplomat in Kabul.

In return for one very junior US soldier, the Taliban have secured the release of several important men, including a founding member of the movement, Khairullah Khairkhwa; a former head of the army, Fazl Mazlum; the deputy intelligence chief Abdulhaq Wasiq; and the former commander of northern Afghanistan, Nurullah Nuri…

The men must stay in Qatar for at least a year as a safeguard against them immediately returning to the battlefield, but will be reunited with their families there and able to meet other members of the insurgent group, sources said…

“This is a very important step releasing the senior Taliban, which will help us on the path to peace in Afghanistan,” said Hakimullah Mujahid, who was once a senior diplomat under the Taliban government and is now deputy head of the high peace council in Kabul, charged by Karzai with brokering a deal.

“The high peace council has been trying from the start to remove obstacles to peace in Afghanistan, and one of them is the prisoners in Guantánamo … we will have their trust, which we did not before”.

US officials were cautiously optimistic that the exchange could have positive long-term implications. “Maybe this could provide some possible new bridge for new negotiations,” said the US defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, after a visit to Afghanistan on Sunday.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.